Digital Awakenings
by Amor
Summary: 25 years after the original Digidestined left, dark overlords rule the DigiWorld, strange beings from other worlds appear, and the barriers between worlds begin to break down. An AU fic in which 02 never happened.
1. Buried Away

Chapter 1:Buried Memories

A Digimon fanfic by Amor

Disclaimer:I don't own Digimon. That belongs to Toei and a bunch of other people. I might own Reile, Kei, Lily and the other original characters, I'm not sure.

Reile strolled casually down the Tokyo streets, a tawny stray cat following her with a sleepy determination. Or so it would seem, to any onlookers. But the average onlooker was easily fooled. And pretty stupid too.

However, Reile prided herself on not being one of the "ignorant masses". She could see through the illusion, if only because she was permitted to. She saw that the cat lapping at her feet was no cat at all, only a feline Digimon named Illuomon. She had a thin coat of purple fur, and a third eye on her forehead. Her tail ended in a small crystal that glimmered with rainbow light. The glamor projected around it could fool any onlooker, and was a part of Illuomon's innate digital code.

Reile stopped purposefully outside a restaurant, which served American-style roadhouse food. She looked into the window, and found a pale reflection. She was a fairly attractive twenty-five year-old, with long brown hair that went down to her shoulders. She had thrown on a black jacket to protect from the chill that signalled the onset of winter. Illuomon fooled even her reflection; in it she was a tawny, somewhat overweight cat just like everyone saw.

She nonchalantly moved away from the window and entered the restaurant. It was mostly abandoned, and she had never liked this type of food, but that wasn't why she was here. Her eyes quickly caught sight of a girl that was a couple years younger than her, with wide eyes and cutely cut dark black hair, currently wiping down a table. Noriko was here. Perfect. 

Reile sat down at her seat and beckoned to the waitress. Noriko approached Reile cautiously. Illuomon had snuck in quickly,  
and was lying disguised under the table. Noriko could see through the illusion as well as Reile, as the Rookie Digimon let her... she was in on it too.

"You brought her here?" Noriko whispered.

"Why not?" Reile replied. "I mean, nobody's going to see. Better than her sitting at home all day bored. Besides, this way she gets to practice with his abilities." Illuomon began to nod, but Reile tapped her with her boot as a reminder that a normal cat wouldn't nod on cue.

"Whatever," Noriko muttered. "So, what do you want to drink?"

"Did Kou tell you anything?" Reile asked, ignoring the typical question.

"How much longer do I have to act as Kou's personal messenger before I can be bonded?" Noriko hissed.

"You can be bonded when the grandmaster says you're ready," Reile whispered evenly. "I take it that Kou told you something?"

"Yeah, he did," Noriko sighed. "He says that he's finally pinpointed the location of that item he's been looking for. He wants all of the full members to meet in the park tonight to go get it."

He found the item? Well, one of the items. Kou had this theory that if they gathered all of these artefacts in the Digital World, they could open a permanent portal to the Digital World, and perhaps reach realms beyond it. He had been working like mad the last two weeks trying to track them down, though none of their group except maybe Miyako really understood his work.  
It looks like it paid off.

"I'll just have some water," Reile said, breaking out of the whisper. Then, to herself, she muttered "I need to be at maximum potential tonight."

---

Kei wondered why it had to be Ryo as his face flew towards the ground swiftly. He stuck out his hands, bracing his fall but still scraping his palms across the pavement. "Oh, let me help you up," a now all-too familiar voice sneered. Kei quickly rose to his feet.

"Just leave me alone Ryo," Kei said. Of all the kids in school he could have ticked off, he had to pick the strongest, most popular jock. Ryo was only about four months older than Kei, but was almost a full head taller. Ryo was strong, smart, fast, and even charismatic when he wanted to be. If you hadn't got on his bad side, you could consider him to be perfect.  
If you had, you could consider him the perfect enemy.

Coincidentally, Ryo and Kei looked alike, other than their height. Both had messy brown hair, and liked to wear simple clothing-- they weren't at the stages of school where they needed a uniform yet, so both just wore T-shirts and jeans even when the weather would normally mandate otherwise.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Kei," Ryo responded calmly, tilting his head slightly to the left. This annoyed Kei even more than when he actually did something. "Oh look," Ryo remarked. "Here's your girlfriend."

Kei almost groaned out loud. Somehow, Ryo had got it in his head that Kei liked this girl named Lily, which was completely untrue. Sure, one could describe Lily as cute, with her shortly-cut blonde hair, cherubic face, and her habit of wearing skirts that were just short enough to maintain innocence. But Kei wasn't interested in her, not like the whole school now believed because of Ryo.

All this, and Kei still didn't know what he could have done to deserve it.

"Hey Ryo," Lily remarked casually as she passed them by on her roller blades. She was wearing one of those skirts again. For some reason, Lily seemed to hold Kei responsible for Ryo's baseless rumour. And, since Kei was now an enemy of Ryo, being associated with him was bad news for those who cared about being popular. So now Lily spoke only scathing remarks to Kei, and even that was rare.

"Hey, Lily," Ryo said with a smile. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much," said Lily as she coasted to a stop. "I missed the basketball game last night, how did you guys do?"

Ryo's popularity had been rising higher than before, as the basketball season heated up and the team members got more attention. The spiky-haired boy postured confidently. "We won, of course. Was there any doubt?"

Kei rolled his eyes. "Only by five points."

"Yeah, those other guys were pretty good, but they just weren't up to my skill level, you know?" Ryo had, of course,  
summarily ignored Kei.

Lily wasn't entirely listening, to his chagrin. Something seemed to have caught her eye. "What's that over there?"

Kei turned to look. It seemed to be some sort of ripple in the air, like you would see in a heat wave. But it was almost winter. And as Kei, looked around, he saw that the ripple was obscuring their sight in every direction. "Dunno. Kind of freaky, though," Ryo muttered.

The ripple began to grow larger. It occurred to Kei that this thing might actually be surrounding them. He backed up, right into Ryo. "Watch it," the larger boy growled, not letting their feud out of sight for a minute.

"What's going on?" Lily asked urgently. "Heat waves don't do this. I've never seen anything like this, even in summer!"

The ripple was so bad that Kei couldn't even see through it. Maybe he should try to get out of the area of the ripple. But he was rooted to the spot in terror. Ryo was similarly paralysed, and Lily was rocking back and forth on her blades, but not going anywhere. For some reason, it gave Kei a bit of satisfaction that Ryo wasn't being brave for once.

All of a sudden, Kei felt as though someone were watching him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He knew it, someone was behind him, watching him, about to stab him and kill him and…

And then the ripple was gone. Kei blinked a few times with shock. Then he noticed his surroundings. The streets of Odaiba were gone, replaced by flat plains and low hills as far as the eye can see.

"Where are we?"

---

"Class! Class? Quiet down please!" The volume of Kari's 5th grade class decreased, but only by a bit. There were always a few troublemakers. A few if you were lucky. Kari decided to continue talking, rather than scream at them. "Okay, we'll do roll call now. If you're not listening, you might miss your name and be marked absent." Another slight decrease in volume.

"Akiyama, Ryo," Kari said, beginning to read the attendance list. When there was no answer, she marked Ryo absent. Odd, he was never late. The students started muttering amongst themselves, as he had looked fine yesterday.

Before she called the next name, the phone rang, the shrill sound cutting through the clamour of the fifth-grade class's chatter. "Everyone quiet while I answer the phone!" Kari all but shouted. The class quieted down as Kari strode across the room to pick up the phone. "Hello, Hikari Kamiya, Sukete Junior High."

"Hey Kari, it's Tai," her brother's voice answered.

"Oh, hey," Kari answered. Why was Tai calling her at work? "Why did you call?"

Tai almost sounded secretive when he answered. "Listen, I know this sounds crazy, but I think I saw a…what was that one called again? Anyway, I saw this drake-like Digimon in the sky. It's headed in your direction, I think."

Kari shook. "A Digimon? Here? Now?"

The mention of the digital monsters brought back a flood of memories, memories that had been buried away for so many years. She remembered her partner, Gatomon. She remembered the adventures, the laughter. She remembered their foes, too, their horrible foes. She had tried to live a normal life, tried to act as if it hadn't happened. It couldn't have happened, now that she thought about it.

But it had. 

Kari sank to her knees, the phone receiver dropping out of her hand. The class was all of a sudden silent as tears began to stream down Kari's cheeks. She had wanted to forget about it. She liked her life. Her normal, adult life. She didn't need giant monsters coming to mess it up. More than that, she didn't want to be reminded of Gatomon. A well of emotions, sealed away, had just broken open and was flooding Kari's mind.

The students began to whisper, but the classroom could have been a world away. One boy broke out in laughter, but was quickly silenced. "Are you okay?" Rene, one of the students asked.

"I thought it was over with…I thought it was over…" Kari sobbed.

A cruel voice seemed to hiss into her ear. It will never be over, the voice hissed. Not until you sit on the Throne of Dusk.

All of a sudden, Kari felt as if something were pulling her down…down into the darkness. The darkness drew her near her. Desperately, Kari realized that she needed to get away from the darkness, or else it would engulf her. She threw all her powers of light at the darkness, propelling her upwards towards the light. But the darkness was so strong.

Noises came from the world outside of Kari's mental battle. The beat of a helicopter. Then screams.

"Miss Kamiya! Miss Kamiya!" she vaguely heard Rene say anxiously. And then, all of a sudden, she was away from the darkness. She was still on her knees on the classroom floor, wet with sweat and tears. She saw Rene slumped against a desk,  
unconscious. The rest of the class stared at her intently.

"The Lord of the Night shall fly forever!" she heard a bestial voice scream.

Kari just barely turned around in time to see the Digimon attack the school.

To be continued…

Author's Notes:

Revised 09/01/2005. There were some things about that chapter that were bugging me. This probably won't be changing that much, or how it flows, but it should be fixing a couple grammar errors, and including a couple things like, you know,  
character descriptions. (Thanks to one reviewer whose name I forget for pointing that out.)

For first visitors, this is basically my first Digimon fanfic, and the start of my big epic (for this series, at least). I'm going to try and follow a bunch of plotlines (the Order, Kei's first adventure with Digimon, the lives and struggles of the old DigiDestined, and more) and then tie them together later. And then in the next book, they'll be more plotlines... I hope that I made the writing in this chapter readable enough to keep your interest. It does get better later on, at least I think so.

Anyways, just a fair warning: there will be pairings in this fic, though they're more as background or subplots than anything else. They will be kind of wierd, and only one of them will be what I would ideally ship. Also, characters will die, or have their personalities changed slightly because of the time gap. Deal with it. 


	2. All Too Familiar

[AN: Just a bit about names.  In the 01 intro, they used the character's dub name as a nickname, unlike in other seasons where they just had the dub name fully replace the original.  This is why, although I use most dub terms, most of the 01 characters use their original, Japanese names.  And if I use characters from other seasons, they will probably have their original names too.  The main exceptions are Kari, who only uses Hikari as a formal name; and Matt, who just likes the nickname.]

Chapter 2:All Too Familiar

"Where are we!" Ryo shouted.  "What did you do, Kei?"  
  


"Me!" Kei protested.  "You think I had anything to do with this?"  
  


"I don't know, but I know somebody did and it wasn't me!" Ryo raged.  "What about you, Lily?"

"Not me either," Lily said meekly.  "Hey, look up in the sky!"

Through the blue sky something came streaking towards the three.  They all backed up, and the thing landed where they just had been.

"That's it, I'm getting out of here!" Ryo shouted, and bolted away from the small crater.  Kei thought he might follow him, but he was curious about what had crashed.  Was it a meteorite?  That would be strange, but then again so was warping from bustling Odaiba to the middle of nowhere.

Cautiously, Lily approached the crater and Kei followed.  A look of puzzlement crossed Lily's face, and she leaned down and scooped something out of the crater.  Kei leaned over her shoulder to look, brushing some of Lily's flowing, dyed-green hair out of his face.

In her hand, Lily held three small devices.  They looked kind of like that virtual pet thing that Kei's mom still had from her childhood.  One of them was lit up and displayed a large red dot in the centre of the screen, but otherwise nothing.  Lily hit one of the four buttons on the side of the glowing one.

All of a sudden, the device spewed forth a beam of light.  Lily jumped back and dropped all three, the beam of light disappearing as they clattered to the ground.  Kei picked one of the ones with a blank screen, and this one lit up.  Again, there was the large red dot in the middle, although it was more of an oval.

Kei hit one of the buttons.  Nothing.  Then another.  There was a map, with a tiny red dot in the centre of the screen.  It seemed to display a landscape with plains, mountains and forests.  A couple red dots were scattered about.  At the edge of the screen, there was a small blue dot.

Lily cautiously picked the other two back up.  One came to life in her hands, but the other remained dull.  She put the dull one in her pocket.  "What do you want to do?"

"What can we do?" Kei shrugged.  "Maybe we're supposed to head towards the blue dot."  He showed Lily his computer screen.

Lily wrinkled her nose.  "But we have to go through mountains and forests to get there!" she protested.

"All right then, what do you suggest?" Kei asked.

Lily paused, and pointed to one of the red dots on Kei's screen.  "Assuming the red dot in the centre is us, maybe those other red dots are other people.  We should try to find one."

"All right," Kei said.  "I guess it's off to the closest red dot, then."

After figuring out which direction everything was in, based off the shadow of the mountains in the background, the two grudgingly set off to what must have been the east.

* *  *

Taichi didn't know what he intended to do.  He just knew that his sister was in danger.  In the back of his mind he knew that all he was doing was putting him in danger, but then he saw the smoke and lost all sense of self.

Almost the entire student body was out on the playground, backing away from the inferno.  Firefighters had arrived, blasting their hoses at the school. Taichi parked his car and hopped out.  He scanned the line of teachers, directing their classes back from the fire.  No Kari.

Taichi was panicking until he saw a firefigher bring Kari out, her unconscious body slung over his shoulder.  The firefighter set her down and Taichi rushed to her.  She had burn marks all over her body, and her brown hair had been nearly all burnt away.  Taichi shook her—her body was still hot from the fire—but she didn't awake.  The firefighters set down a girl, with as many burns as Kari, beside Taichi's sister.

"Sir, if you'd please get away from the fire," a fireman said sternly.  Taichi jumped, and then nodded.  They were doing all they could here.  Taichi needed to make sure something like this didn't happen again.

Taichi followed the smoke and destruction in his car.  It seemed largely at random.  A house here, a car there, a store here.  Taichi wondered if the Digimon had any particular targets or was just destroying things.

  
Then Taichi saw the Digimon in the air and swerved into the parking lane.  The Digimon's lower half was like a long gray snake, about as wide around as a tree.  Its upper part was rougly humanoid.  Instead of hands at the end of the Digimon's arms, there were what seemed to be small missile launchers.  The Digimon had a snakelike head, half of which was covered by a metal helmet.  Two ragged black wings extended from the Digimon's back.

The Digimon seemed to be eyeing a large office building.  Tons of people in there.  Taichi knew he had to do something before somebody died.  He jumped out of the car and shouted up at the Digimon.  "Hey, numbskull!" The Digimon's head snapped down to glare at Taichi.  The Digidestined of Courage gulped, but continued on.  "Why don't you try to hit me?  I don't think you could!"  
  
The dragon Digimon opened up his missile launchers and grinned.  "The Lord of the Night shall fly forever!  Dark Side Attack!"  A barrage of missiles flew at Taichi.  All of a sudden, there was a sharp pain in Taichi's chest.  He looked down and saw the glowing symbol of the Crest of Courage.

Something slammed into Taichi, sending him rolling head over heels with it.  The missiles hit the spot where Taichi had been, blasting a hole in the sidewalk.  "What the. . ." Tai began, but stopped as he saw that the one who had tackled him had been Greymon.  His Greymon.

Greymon looked up in the sky.  "That's a Gigadramon.  I don't know how it got there, but I'd better take care of it."  Again Taichi felt energy flowing through him as Greymon drew off his power to digivolve.

"Greymon warp digivolve to. . .WarGreymon!"

WarGreymon stood there, as gallant as Taichi remembered him.  Gigadramon recoiled and started to fly away, but it was too late.  WarGreymon flew up in to the air and slammed his clawed fist into Gigadramon's chest.  "Dramon Destroyer!"  With a burst of light, Gigadramon was no more.

  
WarGreymon settled on the ground and devolved to Agumon.  The battle, the stupid courage, had been familiar to Taichi.  Yes, battle was all too familiar.

"Tai, I'm so glad to see you!" Agumon said cheerfully, jumping up and hugging Taichi.  "So much has changed in the Digital World!"  
  


"I'm sure," Taichi said, patting his Digimon on the back.  "You can tell me all about it.  But we should probably get out of here, before someone comes around here and thinks that you're the one who caused all this direction."

  
The two got into Taichi's car, Agumon having a little trouble with the seat belt.  "So Tai," Agumon began.  "What have you been doing for the past twenty-five years?"

"Well, I went through school, and after doing a couple jobs, I ended up in politics," Taichi said.  "Oh, me and Sora got married."

"Biyomon always said you would," Agumon said.  "How about the others?"

"Well, Matt's still trying to be a rock star.  Sora plays amateur tennis.  Mimi moved over to America and became a movie star.  Jou became a doctor.  Takeru's an accountant or something, but he's trying to get this novel of his published.  And Kari's a teacher."

  
"Takeru?  Jou?" Agumon grinned.  "You sure have gotten a lot more formal since I last saw you.  Wait, you didn't mention Izzy."

  
Taichi sighed.  "Well, Izzy. . .how should I say this. . .he kind of left us a couple years ago.  Took his own life."  
  
"Oh," was all Agumon could say.

"You said that the Digital World has changed," Taichi said, changing the subject.  "Tell me about it,"

"Well," Agumon said, "About ten years ago, strange Digimon began to appear.  They were stronger than most others of their type, and they all spoke of a mysterious lord.  Then their lords began to appear.  They were more powerful than any Digimon ever before.  They took over the Digital World, each forming their own domain.  There are sixteen now, I think.  Some of them are good, some of them are evil, and some of them are kind of neutral.  I think the only area a Digital Lord dosen't control is the edges of the world.  And any Digimon that dosen't live there swears loyalty to one of the Digital Lords."

"Do you?" Taichi asked softly.

"Yes," Agumon answered.  "One of them named Beastdramon.  He's pretty good, actually.  His domain is basically just wildlife with a few villages.  Now that I think about it, that Gigadramon I just killed served Nightdramon, based on his battle cry and the symbols on his chest.  I wonder why he was here?"

"Well, here we are," Taichi said as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

  
Agumon glanced up.  "Why are we at the hospital, Tai?"

"They'll probably take Kari here," Taichi answered.  "She looked pretty hurt when I last saw her, and I couldn't stand not knowing how she's doing.  You pretend to be a doll when someone's watching, okay?"

  
Taichi muttered a silent prayer as he entered the hospital.

[AN:I plan to go into more detail about Izzy's death later on.  Until then, maintain the level of scepticism that you would if a comic book character died.]


	3. The Last Act of the Prophet

Chapter 3:The Prophet's Last Task  
  
Lily sank to her knees. "I'm not walking another inch!" she exclaimed. Kei felt like agreeing with her. They had been walking for hours, the sun sweltering down on them. No matter how far they walked, they seemed to be met with the same plains and rolling hills. It was enough to drive a guy insane.  
  
Kei sat down on the slope of a hill. "Well, we might as well stop for a while." Kei dug out the lunch his mother had packed him for school that day. He had seen TV shows like this, and he knew that you had to ration out your food if you wanted to survive. Kei hoped that they would find civilization soon, because one lunch only goes so far.  
  
Kei ate a couple of the snacks, and took a sip from his drinking box. "Oh nooo," Lily moaned. "I forgot my lunch at home again. Today of all days."  
  
"Here," Kei said, tossing her some candy. She looked up questionably. "Well, we're never going to get anywhere if you collapse from hunger.  
  
After eating roughly a half of Kei's lunch, the two stood up and mentally prepared themselves to keep walking. Kei consulted his device. The dot they were following seemed to be moving north. He hoped that they moved faster than the dot, but that was unlikely. Maybe the dot was headed for civilization, at least.  
  
They set off again, their course tilting to the north this time. After fifteen minutes or so of walking, they rounded a hill and gasped when they saw what lay below.  
  
There was a large patch of soil here. In it grew several tomato plants. A small pond was also here, filled with crystal-clean water. An apple tree stood tall, delicious red apples hanging from its branches. It suddenly occurred to Kei how thirsty he was. Half a juice box didn't make up for hours walking in the hot sun. Kei rushed down to the pond.  
  
"Something isn't right," Kei heard Lily mutter, but Kei had already dipped his hands into the cool blue pond. He tried to raise them to his lips so he could poor the water down his throat. But his hands were stuck. Alarmed, Kei turned to Lily.  
  
"I can't move my hands!" It was almost as if tiny, invisible tentacles had grabbed his hands and were trying to drag them down to the depths of the pond. He could almost feel the tentacles creeping up his wrists, his arms.  
  
Lily was halfway to reaching Kei when she stopped and glared at him. "Don't do that again," she said, and turned towards the tomato plants.  
  
"Do what?" Kei asked as the invisible tentacles crawled up his arms, but Lily didn't respond. Instead, she reached for a tomato. She pulled on it.  
  
"It's stuck!" Now Kei saw creepers growing from the tomato plant, creeping up her arm as the invisible tentacles had crept up Kei's. Lily shrieked as the creepers began entangling her arms.  
  
"Light of Truth!" a voice boomed from afar. A beam of light came out of nowhere and struck thin air. All of a sudden, the pond, the tree and the tomato plants were gone. Kei realized that it wasn't just invisible tentacles he was feeling. He saw actual tentacles constricting his arms.  
  
When he glanced up, Kei saw an impossible number of hideous tentacles coming down to restrict him. The tentacles connected to a body that would otherwise seem to belong to a furless, four-legged animal. A large head with three eyes stood, looking shocked. Kei saw that the beam of light was hitting the third eye, in the centre of the beast's forehead.  
  
From over the hill came a knight, sunlight gleaming off his armour and off his horse's barding. Kei noticed that the knight was bigger than a normal man; Kei thought he would be nine feet tall if he stood up. The horse was similarly enlarged.  
  
"Lance of Justice!" the knight shouted, and charged the beast. The creature blinked like a deer caught in a car's headlights. Kei felt the tentacles holding his arms loosen. The knight stabbed the creature in its third eye. Blue blood oozed from the wound, and the creature slumped to the ground.  
  
Kei and Lily quickly untangled themselves from the beast's tentacles. "What . . . was that?" Lily asked shakily.  
  
"That was an Oasimon," the knight answered smoothly. "A foul creature. Tempts travelers with images of their desires, and then entangles and eats them." Kei shuddered. He could have been one of those travellers.  
  
"I've never heard of those before," Kei said. "Thanks for rescuing us Mr. . . . I don't think I caught your name."  
  
"You may know me as Paladimon, Defender of Light and Champion of Emporomon," the knight answered. "What are your names, travellers?"  
  
"I'm Lily Sonata," Lily responded.  
  
"I'm Kei Miyamo," Kei answered.  
  
Paladimon paused. "I have never heard of your kind before, Lilymon and Keimon."  
  
"Not Keimon," Kei corrected. He couldn't help but feel a little silly correcting someone like this, who seemed to ooze authority. "Just Kei."  
  
"Just Kei?" Paladimon said, looking puzzled. "You must be from another world."  
  
"That would make a lot of sense," Lily added in.  
  
"You are a mystery." Paladimon said. "I shall take you to my lord. Mount my steed, and we shall ride."  
  
"Well, this beats walking," Lily said as Paladimon helped the two on to the unnaturally large horse. Anything else she said was drowned out by the sound of the horse's gallop.  
  
* * *  
  
Gennai wandered down the halls of the ruins. He had one more thing to do before he died. He could feel the taint inside of him, and knew that he had to do it quickly.  
  
Gennai wondered what the ruins had been originally, or if they had ever been anything but ruins. They had appeared just three days ago, on the edges of the Digital World. One of the few places that had not been claimed by the Digital Overlords. Gennai didn't like the Overlords much. He felt that the Digital World should be a place of nature, the inhabitants working together and against each other at the same time, not divided up into sections like Earth.  
  
Azulongmon had said that the ruins held Gennai's final test. He had to summon the Fifth, whatever that was supposed to mean. Azulongmon had said that he would know what he had to do when he got there, but so far all he had found were seemingly endless hallways.  
  
As if by chance, Gennai stumbled upon a long room, probably a hall. The room could have been mistaken for another seemingly meaningless room, if not for the wall of glowing blue stone. Inscribed on the stone were runes, written in old Digi-Code. With a little effort, Gennai could read them, and what was written was very interesting.  
  
*The First shall return to his past  
  
Fighting against the night with a candle  
  
The Second shall go to his future  
  
Pursued by nightmares all the way  
  
The Third shall find his soul  
  
And open the doorway of dreams  
  
The Fourth shall leave his home  
  
A mighty weapon with a terrible curse  
  
The Fifth shall take his first soul  
  
Waking on the First Day*  
  
It all seemed to make little sense. But prophecy seldom did. Gennai set his lantern down as he moved through the hall. The blue light of the wall was illumination enough.  
  
All of a sudden, a wave of chills came over Gennai. His fists clenched, as the strength seemed to drain out of his body. *I have to fight the taint. I can't let the taint overcome me. I still have one last task.*  
  
Shivering, Gennai walked down the hall. He saw the familiar runes of an incantation on one of the slabs of blue stone. Gennai pressed his hands to the stone and recited a string of syllables. The meaning of those, even he did not know. "I, Gennai, the Prophet of the Digital World, summons the being known as the Fifth to these ruins as my final act."  
  
The glow of the stone heightened, and Gennai felt the energy gathering nearby. After a minute, he lifted his hands from the stone and turned around.  
  
He blinked. The Fifth was not who he had expected. He hadn't really expected anyone in particular, of course, but.not this one.  
  
With that, Gennai let the Fifth lie sleeping, and shuffled down the corridor. It was said that when a Prophet has committed his final act, he shall find the Well of Fire. When he was young, Gennai had found it infuriating that there had been a place that he had no idea where it was, but in his old age he knew that you would find things when they were ready to be found.  
  
And so he found himself in front of a fire pit with no bottom. Down into the fire pit he could see a raging inferno. All of a sudden the taint grasped at him desperately. Gennai trembled, feeling the Dark Sphere inside of him reaching out to take control of him. He had fought off its influence for many years, thanks to Azulongmon's blessing, but this was spawned of an evil so great that even the gods couldn't cure it.  
  
"I, the Prophet Gennai," Gennai said as he stepped onto the rim of the Well. "Thank the Digital Gods for my life. In reverence, I shall be engulfed in the final flames, and from these flames shall be born the new Prophet. And so my life shall end and that of the new Prophet's shall begin."  
  
And with that, Gennai cast himself into the inferno of the Well of Fire.  
  
* * *  
  
Reile paced around the park, waiting for the others to arrive. The appearance of the Gigadramon, and the WarGreymon that destroyed it, had set everyone on edge. The barriers were weakening. Kou had said so himself.  
  
Reile glanced over the full members who had already arrived. There was Miyako, whose Digimon was a bird named Hawkmon. Reile thought she might be in a relationship with Kou. Then there were the Raono twins, Ryushi and Ryan. Their Digimon were a SnowAgumon and a ToyAgumon, respectively. It was funny, Reile thought, they were twins but they couldn't be more different. Ryan was lanky and short, and always seemed to be playing a portable video game. Ryushi was muscular and loved to play sports.  
  
Aera was a laid-back blond girl whose partner was a Salamon. Toby was a teenager-younger than almost anyone else in the organization, but he was always so solemn. He and his Floramon laid back against a tree, talking to each other in quiet whispers.  
  
Kou walked up to the group, dressed in his usual dark blue robe that was only given to a leader of a chapter. "We have to go. Now."  
  
"But what about the others?" Aera protested.  
  
"No time," Kou said. "Portals are opening up all over the place in the sky, and I saw a couple of Sabirdramon flying the city. Scouting probably."  
  
"Nightdramon," Miyako breathed.  
  
"She's planning something big," Kou said. "And we don't want to be here when it goes down, I don't think. It should be easy to open a Digiport from here, with all the activity. We shouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves either."  
  
Kou took out his laptop and began typing quickly. Reile wondered about Kou. He was higher in rank in the organization than any of them, but he didn't seem to have a Digimon partner. Maybe chapter leaders didn't. Still, it seemed a little odd. The Grandmaster who had participated in Reile's bonding ceremony had one, a Digimon who stayed in Champion form at that.  
  
"If you're going," a familiar voice said from the bushes. "I'm coming with you." Noriko stepped out from the foliage, looking as if she was prepared for a week of camping and not just a brief journey into the Digital World.  
  
"What?" Reile said. "Noriko, this is dangerous. You can't go with us!"  
  
"Hey, the Grandmasters said I had to get experience," Noriko said. "Besides, I'll have six Digimon to protect me, not to mention all of you guys. And I can defend myself."  
  
Kou sighed. "Well, if you're going you'd better go now. The Digiports are growing, connecting with each other. Nightdramon's turning the sky into one gigantic Digiport." Reile noticed a swirling patch of air that was the Digiport just behind the bench Kou sat on.  
  
"Well in that case I'm definitely going," Noriko said. "Where's this Digiport."  
  
Kou pointed it out, and Noriko nodded. Then, without a word, Kou shut his laptop, got up, and stepped through the portal. Miyako, Kou's second-in- command followed. Then Reile. Then Aera, followed by Ryushi and Ryan. Toby stepped through, and Noriko was last.  
  
As Kou closed the Digiport, Reile could hear the sound of wings beating. 


	4. The Battle of Odaiba

[AN: My longest chapter yet, and it's all one plot line!  Hope you enjoy it.]

Chapter 4:The Battle of Odaiba

Kari was being pulled down, down towards the darkness.  The voices hissed into her ear. _ "You shall be our queen!"  "Your life shall not be complete until you take the Throne of Twilight!"  "Your world is nothing compared to ours!"_  They were terrible, slithering voices like snakes.  An ocean of snakes pulling her down to the darkness.

Kari fought.  She surrounded herself in a bubble of light.  She was the Digidestined of Light; she wouldn't be conquered by some measly darkness.  But it was powerful darkness.  _"It is only a matter of time now!"_  Maybe that was true.  It was like falling off a cliff.  You couldn't fly back up.  The most you could do was try to grab something to stop yourself from falling.

Kari caught a glimpse of such a thing.  She wasn't sure what it was, but she wasn't sure what anything was in this abstract world of dark and light.  She reached out for it desperately.  She could almost touch it . . .just a little bit further . . .

*  *  *

Taichi sat in the waiting room impatiently.  He had been here since this afternoon. Some of the others were here, reading or staring out into space.  Sora had gotten time off work.  Jou, who worked at the hospital, was on break and waiting with the others.

Kari's boyfriend, a guy name Daisuke, was here too.  Taichi didn't like Daisuke, although he didn't quite know why.  _Probably because he reminds you so much of yourself_ a voice in his head said, but Taichi ignored it.  Daisuke was fidgeting, and Taichi could tell that he was trying to hide something.

"Hey everyone!" a familiar voice said as Matt strode into the room.  "How's everyone doing?"  
  
"Matt!" Sora said pleasantly.   Previously, her brow had been scrunched in concentration over something.  "I thought you were on tour in Europe!"

"Well, we weren't playing any shows tonight, and I figured that I might as well come and check on Kari," Matt explained.  "The guys and I pooled our money to buy a return ticket for me."  Even thought Matt had once reached celebrity-status as the lead singer of the Teenage Wolves, that band broke up shortly after they realized they were no longer teenagers.  Since then, Matt had been in a number of bands that weren't nearly as successful.  Still, he had a fair amount of money.

"Good to see you could come," Taichi said brightly.  "Kari's still unconscious, but they say she's getting better."

Matt's glance turned to Agumon, pretending to be a stuffed animal on Taichi's lap.  "Oh my god, is that…"  Taichi nodded, but motioned to the hall outside.  They couldn't discuss Digimon with Daisuke here.  The two went out into the hall to talk, and Agumon stopped his stuffed animal charade.  "What's going on?" Matt asked.

  
"Wish I knew," Taichi sighed.  "A Digimon showed up in the city—it attacked Kari's school, that's why she's in here—and Agumon appeared to help me fight it off."  Agumon nodded.

"So, is this just a one time occurrence, or are we going back to the whole 'save the world' thing?" Matt asked rhetorically.  "I mean, we can't do this again.  We're not kids, we have jobs and responsibilities now.  I have a kid, Tai!  How does that factor into the whole war thing?"  
  


"I'm not asking you to do anything," Taichi said.  "I have a family too, and a job, and all that stuff.  I'm just stating the facts.  It's not like I had a choice in the matter, I doubt you will either."

Their conversation was interrupted by a scream.  Taichi instantly recognized it as Sora's.  He rushed towards the sound, ending up in Kari's hospital room.  Or at least, it had once been Kari's room.  Kari was gone now.  All her life support and that other mechanical junk hung loose.

"What happened to her?" Taichi asked in a panic. Sora trembled.

Jou ran into the room, barely acknowledging Kari's absence.  "Just saw . . .Digimon . . .out window . . .attacking city . . ."

"What kind?" Agumon asked.

"Not one," Jou panted.  "Tons of them."

Sora nodded, looking as if she might cry.  "Tai . . . we should get home."  
  
"Why?" Taichi asked.  "They're outside, right.  Me and Agumon are the only ones who can fight these things."  
  
"What about the kids?" Sora said.  Taichi had forgotten about Nick and Anzu.  They had left the kids with a babysitter (Taichi didn't think that the kids would take well to sitting in a waiting room doing nothing.)  "We have to protect them from those Digimon."  
  


"Which is why I have to fight them," Taichi argued.

"Don't be an idiot Tai," Sora said angrily.  "They could already be all over the city.  You might not get to them in time.

"But there are tons of people here!" Taichi protested.  "We need to save them, don't we?"

"Well I'm going to protect our children," Sora said angrily before storming off.  _Probably the best,_ Taichi thought.  _I don't want to see anything happen to them either, but I know my priorities._

Taichi realized that he was standing around aimlessly, and he ran off to the closest entrance.  From the streets he could see several buildings engulfed in black fire.  A number of Digimon flew overhead.  They appeared to be Birdramon, except that their fire and every part of their body was black.

"Sabirdramon," Agumon muttered.  "The token troops of Nightdramon."  

Taichi pulled out his glowing Digivice—where had that come from, anyways—and pointed it at Agumon.  "You know what to do,"

  
Agumon nodded.  "Agumon warp digivolve to . . .WarGreymon!"

Taichi hung onto WarGreymon's back as the two ascended.  "Dramon Destroyer!" WarGreymon shouted, impaling the closest Sabirdramon on his claws.  The Digimon let out a final squawk before exploding into data.  "Dramon Destroyer!  Dramon Destroyer!  Dramon Destroyer!"  Three more Sabirdramons were deleted.

"Darkness Wing!" the remaining Sabirdramons shouted, shooting out balls of black fire from their wings.  The balls hit WarGreymon harmlessly.

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon responded, destroying three enemies with the ball of fire.  There was only one Sabirdramon left, and that one was running away.  Taichi motioned for WarGreymon to follow.  With another Dramon Destroyer, the Sabirdramon was destroyed.

"Dark Side Attack!" a number of voices shouted out from above.  A barrage of missiles struck WarGreymon, who cried out in agony as cracks began to form in his armour.  A group of Gigadramon, previously hidden by the clouds, laughed maliciously.

"Dramon Destroyer!"  WarGreymon ripped upwards and into one of the Gigadramon's chest.  The Ultimate cried out in pain as WarGreymon finished him with another shot.  "Terra Force!"  That attack hit another one of the Gigadramon in the face, sending him to the ground.

The other Gigadramon now ran, but Taichi and WarGreymon pursued each of them and deleted them.  Tai hated the killing, but he couldn't let them get away.  Then from far off Tai saw new approaches.  These creatures seemed to have four legs and were covered in tan fur.  Metal rimmed their heads and wings.  "Gryphomon!" WarGreymon said.  "They're Mega level, Tai!"

  
"Well so are you," Taichi said, trying to be encouraging.  There were three of them flying quickly towards Taichi and his partner.

"Terra Force!"  The attack collided with one of the Gryphomon, injuring but not killing the enemy.

"Legendary Blade!" The Gryphomon responded.  Blades shot out of its wings, slamming into WarGreymon.  Taichi's partner let out a gasp, but continued fighting.  The two Megas met in mid-air and began to brawl.

"Nova Claw!

"Legendary Claw!"

Both Digimon were hurt by each other's claws.  All of a sudden, WarGreymon spun around into a small tornado.  "Nova Tornado!"  Caught off guard by the attack, the Gryphomon was struck hard and fell to the ground before being deleted.

Taichi realized he was hearing the sounds of another battle near his.  There was a cry from a Gryphomon, and he could practically feel it being deleted.  He glanced to his right and saw Matt riding an injured MetalGarurumon.

"Glad to see you could make it," Taichi said with a grin.

"You know I'm too old for this?" Matt said, mimicking Taichi's grin.

"Terra Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!"  
  
Caught between the two energy attacks, the Gryphomon screamed as it was destroyed.

*  *  *

Sora ran towards her car, hoping she could get there fast enough.  She imagined the horrors she had seen in the Digital World.  She tried to block the images of the horrors confronting her children, but she couldn't.  She saw in her head Devimon grasping Anzu with his clawed hand, Myotismon attacking a screaming Nick, both of them being turned into key chains by Piedmon . . . 

In her head she knew that all those Digimon were dead, dead for twenty-five years. But she was sure there were Digimon just as bad out there, ones they hadn't destroyed.  She had to get home . . . had to protect them.

  
"Sora!" a voice cried.  Sora turned around to see, to her shock, Birdramon standing there.

"Birdramon!" Sora said.  She smiled as she remembered all the good times she had with her partner.  Then she remembered the present situation.  "Listen Birdramon, I need to get somewhere, and I need to get there quick."

"That's what I'm here for," Birdramon said with a smile.

Sora and Birdramon flew low, trying to avoid attention.  Most people were concentrating more on the Digimon that were attacking them.  "I don't know why all these Digimon are attacking," Birdramon said.  "But hopefully we'll find out."

With a couple directions, they found the house.  It was your typical, middle-class two-story home.  Birdramon landed in the front yard.  There was a scream from inside the home.  Sora rushed in, to find that it was just the babysitter seeing Birdramon.  "It's okay," Sora assured her as she paid the sitter.  "She's on our side.  Although you might not exactly want to walk home with what's going on. Where are Anzu and Nick?"

"In bed," the sitter answered.  "Um, can I kind of stay here until this blows over.  Like you said, it's not that safe outside."

"Sure," Sora said before she ran up and woke up her children.  Nick was ten, and Anzu was six.

"What's going on?" Nick asked sleepily as he rubbed his eyes.

"Get dressed," Sora commanded.  "I'll explain later."  At a squawk, she gazed out of Nick's window to see balls of black fire flying at Birdramon.  She rushed out the door.

A group of Sabirdramon were circling Birdramon.  "Darkness Wing!"  The balls of dark fire came again, striking Birdramon.  Sora felt a pang of pain as her partner was struck.

Birdramon took to the skies.  "Meteor Wing!"  The attack hit a couple of the Sabirdramon, but didn't seriously injure them.  It was hopeless.  There were at least five Sabirdramon, not to mention the mysterious shadow that Sora saw on the rooftop.

Another volley of Darkness Wings brought Birdramon to the ground.  Sora rushed over.  "Birdramon . . .are you all right?"  
  
"Sora . . ." Birdramon said.  "Go.  They're too powerful."

"No!" Sora said fiercely.  "I'm with you until the end."  Sora felt a blast of pain on her chest, and Birdramon started glowing.

"Birdramon digivolve to . . . Garudamon!"

Garudamon now stood up, her injuries cured by the digivolution.  The Sabirdramon gulped, they now were facing an Ultimate.  "Wing Blade!"  A bird of fire formed in Garudamon's wings.  The bird flew at the Sabirdramon and deleted two of them.  A claw took another—previously injured by Birdramons' Meteor Wing—out.  The other two were flying way, but another Wing Blade felled one.

Then there was a malicious chuckle as the mysterious shape moved out of the shadows.  "A Gryphomon," Garudamon gasped.  "A Mega."

Sora knew that they were in trouble.  Whoever was attacking the city had Mega Digimon in their ranks, which said a lot for their own power.  "Legendary Blade!" the Gryphomon cried.  The blades that shot out of their wings struck Garudamon, knocking her back and almost into Sora's house.

"Wing Blade!" Garudamon gasped.  The bird of fire formed and flew right into Gryphomon, but it didn't do much.

The Gryphomon snorted.  "Is that the best you've got?  Legendary Claw!"  With the swipe of one claw, Garudamon reverted to Biyomon and fell to the ground.

Sora knelt by Biyomon, lying wounded on the sidewalk.  It occurred to her that this unseen enemy, this battle, threatened to take everything she loved.  Taichi, Biyomon, the kids, her home . . . the war wouldn't leave anything for her to love.  The thought horrified her.

Sora loved in spite.  A love for all her friends and family.  A love that could not be broken by the attack of one stupid Digimon.  Sora felt energy flow through her, the energy using the love to fuel itself and become more powerful.  Sora grinned inwardly.  This Gryphomon would regret the day he messed with love.

"Biyomon warp digivolve to . . . Phoenixmon!"

Sora gazed in wonder at Biyomon's new form.  It was birdlike like all her others, but this one had four wings, each one covered in golden feathers.  A multitude of tails flapped in the wind.  Her head seemed to be covered in a golden helmet.  All in all, Phoenixmon was a creation of love and beauty.

"What!" Gryphomon practically screamed.  "This can't be!  I defeated you!"  
  
"Guess again!" Phoenixmon said.  "Crimson Flame!"  Fire streamed out of her mouth, engulfing the enemy.  Gryphomon broke away from the fire burnt.  Phoenixmon turned to him.  "Star-Light Explosion!"  A small orb of light came from Phoenixmon's mouth.  Gryphomon easily dodged out of the way, but as he did, the orb exploded.  Fire and light engulfed the Digimon, and when it cleared Gryphomon was no more.

Sora heard a whimpering behind her and turned around to see Nick and Anzu standing at the door, shivering.  "Come on," she said, and lifted them on to Phoenixmon's back.  Then she herself got on.  "Let's go find the others,"

  
As Phoenixmon flew, it seemed as if the night sky were alive.  Sora desperately hoped that they would make it there in time.

*  *  *

"You know, of all of it, I think I hate the killing most," Matt said to Taichi as they flew through the city on their Digimon.  "You never know if it's a dedicated soldier or just a poor guy who got pressed into the army.  Taichi nodded.  The subject had been on their minds as they moved through Odaiba, killing any evil Digimon they found.

"SO," a voice boomed from above.  It seemed as if the voice came from all around, yet from nowhere.  It made Taichi shiver.  "YOU ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE BEEN KILLING MY SOLDIERS."

So this was their leader.  Taichi had practically prepared a speech in his head for when he met the leader of the attacking forces, but it melted away as that leader's voice pierced through his marrow.  "Wh-who are you?" Taichi stammered.

"YOU MAY KNOW ME AS NIGHTDRAMON!" the voice boomed.  And then, all of a sudden, something seemed to emerge from the night sky.  It was about the shape of a bird.  The creature was bigger than anything Taichi had ever seen before.  It could have engulfed two football stadiums and still have room for desert.  It was practically invisible against the night sky.  Taichi could only see where it was because of the stars it blotted out.  "AND YOU MAY KNOW YOURSELVES AS DEAD!"

  
Taichi knew that WarGreymon would never be a match for this Digimon.  Especially in his current state.  His armour was broken in several places, and various wounds adorned his body.  The same could be said for MetalGarurumon.  The two Megas landed on a nearby skyscraper.  "YOU CANNOT RUN AWAY FROM ME!" Nightdramon cried.

"We weren't planning to," WarGreymon said.  Taichi felt an energy fuel him.  WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon began to glow.  For some reason, Taichi felt that the tone of the light perfectly matched the energy going through him.

"WarGreymon . . .MetalGarurumon . . .DNA Digivolve to . . . OMNIMON!"

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon had only fused once before, and that was to defeat Diaboromon over two decades ago.  Omnimon looked as gallant as he had on that day, and just as determined.  Taichi noticed that all of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon's injuries were gone.  "Now you fall!" Omnimon shouted. 

The booming voice laughed, a hideous laugh.  "YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME JUST BECAUE YOU FUSED?  HOW ARROGANT."

"I'll show him arrogant," Omnimon muttered.  "Supreme Cannon!"  Both of his cannon arms shot out an energy beams.  The two beams struck the shadowed body with a giant blast.

Another hideous, booming laugh.  "WHAT A PATHETIC ATTACK!  THAT WAS LIKE A PAPER CUT FOR ME!  TRUST ME, YOU SHOULD FEEL IT!  NIGHTSHADE REFLECTION!"

A shadow appeared in the sky, about five yards away from Omnimon.  The shadow took the form of Omnimon himself—a twisted, despicable Omnimon.  This Omnimon shot two shadow beams out of his cannon, perfectly mimicking the attack Omnimon had just used.  The two beams struck the fused Digimon, sending him back into the skyscraper Taichi and Matt were on.  The shadow vanished.

Omnimon flew up, up until he was parallel with the shadow.  A sword appeared in his hand.  Taichi had seen this attack before, and he knew it was a powerful one.  "Transcendent-"

"DARKNESS WING!"  The darkness lashed out, striking at Omnimon.  The fusion Digimon was blasted down besides Taichi, and reverted to Koromon and Tsunomon.  The two In-Trainings quivered.  "DO YOU NOW SEE MY POWER?  YOUR ATTEMPT WAS FUTILE!  NOW YOU SHALL BE DESTROYED!"

"Star-Light Explosion!"  There was an explosion on Nightdramon's side.  It seemed to do very little, however.  A giant golden bird-like Digimon swooped down besides Taichi, Matt and their partners.  On it Taichi saw Sora and, thank God, his children.

"Get on!" Sora shouted.  Taichi and Matt wasted no time in complying.  The bird took off at high speed, getting as far away from Nightdramon as possible.

"FINE!"  Nightdramon laughed again, in a mocking tone.  "FLEE!  IT DOES NOT MATTER.  IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE ALL OF THIS PITIFUL WORLD WILL BE OURS!"


	5. With the Dawn

Chapter 5:With the Dawn

"Aw, fuck," Takeru cursed as his car sputtered.  With a final moan, the '13 model finally broke down.  _Now of all times, _Takeru thought grimly.  He took his keys and left the car.  He could call a road service, but he didn't know the numbers of any in Australia.  Even if he did, they might be based in Sydney, and no one was leaving there for a while.  Takeru had only gotten out in the chaos after the attack.

Grimly, Takeru left the road and started to enter the wilderness.  He figured the only help he could find would be a farm or something somewhere.  He could try to hitchhike, but given the amount of traffic coming from Sydney, it didn't seem likely.

Takeru was supposed to be the Digidestined of Hope—a title he had all but forgotten up until last night—but he wasn't very hopeful now.  _How could I be?  How can we fight something that could . . . _the line of thought's potential continuations let the feelings of loss rise to the surface once again.  Tears began to well up in his eyes.

The past six months had been hard times for Takeru.  Yume had divorced him, and taken their daughter Pata with them.  Takeru had picked the name, naming his child after his Digimon partner.  He loved her dearly, but supposed that it had been the right thing to do.  He knew he could be a bit solitary sometimes.  At least Pata could visit him on the weekends.

Of course, then a job had opened in Sydney.  It paid better than Takeru's current job, and his boss had heavily intoned that he should apply.  Being fluent in English, and needing some time to think, he had applied and got the job. Besides, he had thought, maybe Australia would give him a new perspective that would help him finish his book.

He had been in the middle of writing a novelized version of the Digidestined's adventures.  It was guised as fiction, with names changed to protect the innocent.  With last night's events, Takeru could have taken it and used it as an autobiography.  That is, if the attack hadn't wiped out the computer on which the story was stored.

It had started around nine, when darkness had just set.  Digimon had appeared out of the water, attacking civilians.  They were all marine Digimon, with most of the land troops being Divermon.  But the ocean had roared up and devoured half of Sydney, leaving the civilians to the mercy of the sea Digimon.  Oddly enough, a few Digimon had appeared to battle the enemies, but not enough.  When Takeru hoped for more, Angemon appeared, who had digivolved to MagnaAngemon.

MagnaAngemon killed many of the enemies, but eventually a powerful Digimon—stronger than most Megas, Takeru was sure, had attacked.  He thought he heard her call herself Negadramon.  Knowing he was no match for her, MagnaAngemon had tried to lose her.  However, he was sandwiched between her and an even more powerful Digimon, who had declared himself ruler of the city and called himself MarineDaemon.

Caught between the two powerful attacks, MagnaAngemon had been completely destroyed.

Since then, Takeru's emotions had switched between great sadness and strange numbness.  He had lost so much.  He longed for when he had first met Patamon.  He could almost see his partner now.  Wait a minute, Patamon was right in front of him!

"Patamon?" Takeru asked, incredulously.

"Eek!" Patamon responded, in a squeaky voice.  "Who are you?"

"How did you get here?" Takeru said, lost in his own train of thought.  "I saw you die!"

"Patamon!" a stern voice said.  A preteen girl with straw-coloured hair appeared.  The girl turned to Takeru.  "Sorry mister.  This is . . . um . . . well it's kind of complicated, you see."  Takeru noticed a Digivice hanging at her belt.

"Why do you have a Digimon?" Takeru asked.  It wasn't _his _Patamon.  That made sense, he supposed.  There were tons of Patamon in the Digital World, why should this one be his.  It was a let down.  Still, why was it here instead of in it's own world.

"You know what they're called?" the girl replied incredulously.

"I think we both have to do a bit of explaining," Takeru admitted.

"All right," the girl said.  "I'm sure my parents will be interested to hear how you know about Digimon.  Come on, my house is just over that hill."

*  *  *

As the sun rose, casting light against the desert sands, Reile moaned and collapsed onto these same sands.  Kou hadn't told them they would be in a desert.  Reile would have dressed for warmer weather, but she wasn't sure there was anything that could protect her from the scalding heat.  When her skin touched the sand, it was like touching a hot stove.  Any second now, Reile was sure she'd ignite in flames.

"I'm never complaining about winter again," somebody murmured.  Apparently, to get to the artefact, they had to go through this desert, with its mind-numbing heat.  They had travelled by night, which was probably a good plan.  Even at night, the heat rose up from the ground in waves, and sweat trickled down in buckets.

Because of the night travel, Reile hadn't slept all yesterday, and even with the sands scalding her skin, she drifted into a sleep.  It seemed only a second later though that she awoke, the sun scorching her skin like sausages on a barbeque.  Reile wished she hadn't thought of food, as all she had eaten since dinner were a couple trail rations, and her stomach told her it was time for breakfast.

Reile heard Miyako laugh.  Right, she was on watch with Kou.  "Are you trying to seduce me, Kourisho?" Reile heard Miyako say.

"No no no," Kou protested.  "All I'm saying is, that if I died, I'd like to give you this first."  Reile couldn't see either of them, but she presumed they were close to her.

"Thank you," Miyako said.  "What's that symbol supposed to mean?"

"This is a crest," Kou explained.  "The symbol symbolizes Compassion."

"So . . . this is one of those things that you were telling me about?"

"Yes."  
  
"I'm honoured you'd think of me as compassionate."

"I didn't pick it, the crest was created to match you."  
  
"So this thing lets my Digimon become an Ultimate?"  
  
"In the right circumstances, yes."

"Where did you find it?"

"Somewhere here in the Digital World.  Took a bit of searching.  If I was any more specific, it'd be like leaving the price tag on, right?"  
  


"It must have been hard.  Thanks for it again.  Most guys would have got me some useless jewellery, but you got me something that's nice and useful at the same time."

"Well, you know me, always practical."

"Am I really that compassionate?"

"You know you are, Miyako."  There might have been more conversation, but Reile drifted off into sleep and didn't hear it.

*  *  *

For a brief second when Kei woke up, he thought he was back home, in his own bed.  That illusion lasted a second, but afterwards Kei wished he could get it back.  He and Lily had rode Paladimon across the plains until dusk yesterday, and Kei was suffering from a number of mild ailments that all seemed to add up and just make him miserable.  These included homesickness, confusion, hungriness (they had eaten the last of Kei's lunch yesterday), being saddle sore, and a nasty cold.

Before Kei knew it, he and Lily were riding Paladimon's giant horse again.  Because of the horse's width, Kei had to stretch out his legs while bending his knees to straddle it, which was quite painful.  After an hour or so of this position, Kei wanted to just walk, but of course then he would lose them.

They were moving south, by Kei's calculations.  Away from the dot he had been chasing, but at least now they had found someone who could guide them around this world, if it was another world.  It had to be, Kei thought.  On his own world, there were no vast plains with creatures that made you see a patch of food instead of a vicious monster, or giant men in armour riding equally large horses.  And he had never heard of this Emporomon guy either.

It was all like something out of a TV show.  Briefly Kei wondered what had happened to Ryo.  He hoped that Ryo had found someone like Paladimon, but hey, Kei wouldn't have minded if an Oasimon had eaten him either.  It would have served him right for deserting them.

The horse rounded a hill, and below Kei could see Paladimon's camp.  Dozens of large white tents were arranged in a neat circle, with one gold-coloured one in the centre.  Two creatures identical to Paladimon stood guard.

"Brother!" one said.  "Have you found the Shrine?"  
  
"Alas, my search was fruitless," Paladimon replied.  "No, I may have found something of interest.  I rescued these two strange Digimon from an Oasimon.  They do not seem to be very powerful, but I have never seen anything like them."  Paladimon gestured towards Lily and Kei.  Kei felt slightly insulted at being called not very powerful, but he supposed that compared to someone like Paladimon he was weak.

"If any know of those creatures, Loremon will," one of the others said.

"That is whom I was planning to ask," Paladimon replied, marching past the guards.  He led his large horse into the circle, stopping right outside the centre tent.  "Dismount."  Thankful for the chance to get off the horse and save his legs, Kei leaped off.  As he was stretching to get the kinks out of his legs, another creature that looked just like Paladimon emerged from the tent.

"What business do you have with those inside, Brother?" the new creature said.

"I wish to speak to Loremon," Paladimon said, motioning to Lily and Kei.  "About them."

The creature that looked like Paladimon nodded and went back into the tent.  A few seconds later, a new creature appeared from within the tent.  This creature was as tall as Paladimon, though he was not riding a horse and this made Paladimon seem taller.  This creature wore blue armour, and his armour seemed to be thinner and more flexible than Paladimon's.  Through the helmet, Kei could see an aged, blue face.  Lily looked to be taken aback by the skin colour.  In his left hand, the creature clutched a large book.

"Greetings, all" the new creature said in a deep voice.  "I am Loremon.  What do you wish to know, Paladimon?"

Paladimon bowed to Loremon.  "Loremon, what do you know of these creatures."  Loremon leaned forward and studied Lily and Kei.  Lily stepped back uncomfortably.

Loremon's eyes widened.  "Is it possible?  Paladimon, these creatures that you bring me…these are known as Humon!  They come form their own world.  The last they appeared here was almost a quarter century ago!"

  
"Um, we're hum_ans_, not hum_ans_," Lily corrected.

"It makes little difference," Loremon said.  "May I have your names, I hear that humans use their given names exclusively."

"I'm Kei and she's Lily," Kei said.

Loremon nodded, fascinated.  He flipped his book open to a seemingly random page, and took a feather pen out of nowhere.  "Now, Kei, can you please tell me something about yourself?"  Kei felt as if he were at a doctor's appointment, the way Loremon talked.  It reminded him of home.  He was all ready getting homesick, and he had just been gone for a little over a day.

A trumpet blared.  Loremon snapped to attention, shutting his book and tucking it under his arm.  Another creature ran into the centre of the camp.  This one would have seemed to be a normal human except for its blue skin.  The creature wore silver chain mail armour.  Kei noticed it was gasping for breath and bleeding in several places.  Bleeding blue blood.

"Master Loremon," the creature wheezed.  "We found . . . the shrine . . . we were coming back to tell you . . . DarkKnightmon . . . coming this way . . ." The creature then collapsed upon the ground.


	6. The Shrine of Courage

Chapter 6:The Shrine of Courage   
  
Takeru felt numb as he watched the coverage of last night's attacks on TV. There had been five attacks in total. Predictably, the media had all ready given each attack it's own separate identity, what was worst about this particular one.   


The attack on Sydney by MarineDaemon's forces was the most mysterious. After flooding the city, and killing anyone who fought back, MarineDaemon personally and systematically visited every building in Sydney, demanding to look at everyone within. Usually he left without doing anything, but sometimes he would grab one person and leave. Who was taken seemed to be completely at random.   


The attack on London by a Digimon named Lichmon was dubbed the most horrific. The dead had risen from their graves and pressed through the streets of London. Lichmon didn't need to kill anyone to conquer the city. He just had trapped everybody in their homes, terrified to go out into the streets where undead walked.   


The attack on New York by a Digimon named Daemon was called the most sudden. As one weeping witness had said; one minute they were having a fun night out on the town, the next half of them were dead and devils were swarming the streets.   


The attack on Japan, by a Digimon named Nightdramon, was called the most fantastic. Monsters flew down from the sky, and other monsters came to challenge them. It all culminated in a battle between Nightdramon himself and one of the strange defenders, and the defender lost. Takeru recognized Omnimon; he hoped that Matt and Tai were doing better than he was.   


Finally, the attack on Beijing by a Digimon named Pyrodramon was simply the most deadly. His forces didn't seem to be out to conquer the city, just to destroy it. Thousands upon thousands perished, and those that didn't fled the city, screaming. Almost all of Beijing had been burnt to the ground.   


Takeru turned the TV off. He couldn't stand to see any more destruction. This was worse than anything they had ever fought as children. Even VenomMyotismon couldn't have killed over a hundred people (he had mostly hypnotized them instead, but that was still a better fate than what had been given to the people of the attacked cities.)   


It turned out Sandy and her parents were members of a strange order that knew about the Digital World. They mostly seemed to be benevolent, although they mostly did experiments concerning Digimon and their world. Those must have been those Digimon futilely fighting off the Digimon invaders last night. They had said that if Takeru had lost his Digimon, he had to go to this order right away.   


Takeru sighed and streched out on the couch. Something big was happening, and something told him that this was only the beggining. But right now he needed to get some sleep. 

* * * 

No sooner had the words "DarkKnightmon" escaped the sentry's lips than the camp was alive with activity. Countless creatures that looked exactly like Paladimon seemed to be preparing for battle. Lily and Kei watched it all with a detached fascination. Loremon stood by them, lost in thought. 

Finally, Loremon spoke. "This is a predicament. The Shrine of Courage is said to frequently change locations, and we cannot let it fall out of our grasp. But how can we go to the Shrine if we must battle the DarkKnightmon?" 

"If you don't mind me asking," Lily said. "What's so important about this shrine anyways?" 

Loremon shook his head condenscingly. "You mean you do not know? It is said that a powerful artifact lays within the Shrine. This artifact has the power to let those whose hearts are courageous assume a more powerful form." 

"So if one of you guys had it, you could become a lot more powerful?" Kei asked. 

"Yes, that is correct," Loremon confirmed. 

"Would it be enough to defeat the DarkKnightmon?" Kei asked, continuing his train of thought. 

"It could possibly turn the flow of battle," Loremon admitted. 

"Then what if," Kei started, "Me and Lily go and get it, and bring it to you guys to help you against the DarkKnightmon." 

Loremon paused, thinking for a moment. "That would be a major boon to us. But I doubt you could get there fast enough. Besides, there are said to be many fierce beasts that guard the artifact." 

Lily shrugged. "Then send a couple Paladimon with us. Surely a few couldn't make much of a difference?" 

Loremon paused again. "There is truth in what you say. You will still be putting yourself in danger, though." 

Kei nodded. "That's fine with me." 

"You have true courage, young Humon," Loremon said. "May you have Azulongmon's own speed." 

* * * 

Reile and the other members of the Order were on the move again. Dusk had nearly fallen, and the heat already felt like it was boiling Reile in her own skin. Her throat felt as if it had been turned to dust, but they had little water and, though Kou had said that they should reach this mysterious artifact tonight, they had to save some rations in case something went wrong. 

Of all of them, Noriko seemed to be taking the heat worse. She had overdressed, not knowing they were going to the desert, and was sweating waterfalls. Reile felt sorry for her, but still a bit irritated that she had come along. How was she supposed to help, without a Digimon partner? Still, Reile remembered the days when she herself had been partnerless. She was constantly restless, able to know what the Order was doing, but unable to assist. 

"Salamander Flame!" Four fireballs streaked towards the group, snapping Reile out of her thoughts. The group scattered. When the fireballs hit the ground, they exploded into larger spheres of fire. Instantly, the Digimon who could digivolve began to glow, as did their partner's digivices. 

"Hawkmon digivolve to...Aquilamon!" Hawkmon now took the form of a gigantic eagle with wickedly curved horns. 

"SnowAgumon digivolve to...Mojyamon!" SnowAgumon had now become a haired, humanoid form wielding a bone club. 

"ToyAgumon digivolve to...Clockmon!" ToyAgumon had become a large clock with robotic appendages. A humanoid shape came out of the clock's top, a symbiote with the Digimon. 

Reile briefly wished that Illuomon could digivolve to Champion. Instead of digivolving, Illuomon, Salamon and Floramon immediately launched their attacks towards where the fireballs had come from. "Rainbow Beam!" Salamon shot a thin, rainbow energy beam from the eye shape on her forehead. It hit something, and exploded into a blast of light. Reile spotted for humanoid, slightly reptillian figures hiding on the sand dune. 

"Puppy Howling!" All of the Order members knew enough to close their ears when Salamon launched her attack, but their attackers clearly did not from the way they clutched their ears. Still, the attack was merely an annoyance. 

"Rain of Pollen!" The yellow powder came from Floramon's stem, and their attackers reeled back as it drifted into their eyes, momentairly blinding a couple. 

By now, the Champions had finished digivolving and were ready to fight. "Blast Rings!" Rings of energy came from Aquilamon's horns, and slammed into the attacking Digimon. 

"Time Buster!" Clockmon shouted, shooting a sphere of blue energy at the mystery attackers. They reeled back, as if in pain. 

"Bone Boomerang!" Mojyamon cried, throwing his bone weapon in an arc, aiming to hit one of the humanoid figures. 

"Salamander Flame!" Mojyamon's target responded, shooting a fireball at the boomerang. Deflected, the bone weapon crashed harmlessly into the sand dune. The four attacking Digimon stepped forward, revealing their features. They were all human-sized creatures covered in red scales. They had reptillian heads and claws. 

"Those are Salamandramon," Kou said, sounding like he was reciting something from memory. "Reptillian Digimon who live in tribes in the desert. They're Champion level, and fight with their Salamander Flame attack." 

"Salamander Flame!" Each of the Salamandramon said in unison, firing fireballs from their mouth. Two fireballs each struck Clockmon and Moyjamon, causing them both to revert to their Champion forms. Another barrage of fireballs took down Aquilamon. 

Reile realized that they were completely vulnerable, having lost all of their Champions. Frozen in place with fear, she expected the Salamandramon to do anything but talk. But one of them hissed, "Why are you here?" 

Kou recovered his wits first. "We are travelling to the Tower of Flame," he said. 

The Salamandramon seemed to consider that for a moment. "You wish to see Efreetimon?" 

"Um...sure, I guess," Kou replied. 

The talking Salmandramon nodded. "We will take you there," 

"What?" Kou asked in disbelief. "But...you were just attacking us back there. Now you want to help us?" 

"We only attacked because you were heading towards the village," the lead Salamandramon replied. "We have heard rumors, you see. Prophecies." 

"Prophecies?" Ryan snorted. Then, seeming to remember that they could still roast him any minute. "Er, what sort of prophecies?" 

"The prophets are saying," the lead Salamandramon hissed, his voice barely above a whisper. "They are saying that the Digimon from another world, Humons, they are saying that they will destroy the village. You see why we are cautious of you?" 

"I guess," Kou admitted. "But why do you want to take us there?" 

"To make sure that you are not lying to us," the Salamandramon said, shooting all of them a deadly look with his reptillian eyes. 

"All right then," Kou responded, shivering. "You can come along." Reile glanced at Kou suspiciously. What was he doing? Did he really trust these creatures that had just been attacking them? 

"Good," the lead Salamandramon said simply. "It woould be unwise for you to suggest otherwise." 

* * * 

As brave as he had been at the Knightmon camp, Kei was beggining to doubt their plan. Well, he had doubted it for a while now. What if they didn't make it to the shrine in time? What if it had already moved? What if they couldn't get past the guardians? What if the Knightmon had already lost? These questions and many others wove their way through Kei's mind, causing his grip to slack on the Knightmon's steed he was riding. He almost fell off, but managed to hoist himself back on. 

And there it was. It stood out on the hillsy landscape, the reflective surface of the temple almost blinding Kei. He held up his arm to block the light, and he could see the temple better now. It was a small building made of shiny white stone. A set of large stone doors stood, the only entrnace to the shrine. Above them was a symbol engraved into the stone that looked a bit like a sun. "The crest of Courage," one of the Knightmon breathed. 

The Knightmon trotted up to the temple and dismounted. Kei and Lily followed suit, sliding off their horses and facing a somewhat rough landing. One of the Knightmon was strokingn his mount comfortingly. "I'll only be gone for a couple minutes, okay?" Kei thought it somewhat funny to see such a noble and powerful creature act like that, but he didn't say anything. Moments later, that same Knightmon held up his sword to the sky. "Onward, to victory!" 

The group-which amounted to Lily, Kei and about six Knightmon-walked through the stone doors. It was hot. Outside it had been an average temperature, but in here it was boiling. Kei imagined how hot it must be for the armour-wearing Knightmon. "Let us press onward," the Knightmon that seemed to be their leader said, and so they did. 

There was a dark hallway ahead. Kei cautiously stepped forward. All of a sudden, there was a flash of orange light, and Kei was no longer there. 

To be continued... 

[AN:Sorry this one took so long to get out. I got stuck for a bit. Anyways, you'll probably be seeing some other fanfics from me-all AUs, pretty much. Well, that's just about it. See you soon, and please R + R.]   
  
  
  
  



	7. Harsh Light

Chapter 7:Harsh Light 

Disclaimer:Digimon belongs not to me, but to a number of other companies; including Toei, Disney, Bandai, and Fox Kids. None of which seem to want it any more, but oh well. 

This fanfiction is rated **PG-13 **for certain sexual and violent elements, along with swearing. This chapter in particular contains one especially morbid scene, so please heed this warning. 

Taichi woke up grudgingly, the bright light of morning ending his slumber. His body and spirit were still tired from last night's battle, and he was so comfortable here that he didn't want to face his new, harsher reality. 

But it wasn't his bed, and he couldn't ignore the three dimunitive In-Training Digimon dozing softly on the shelf across from him. Quietly, Taichi wiggled out of his wife's unconcious embrace, taking care not to wake Sora. He noticed that the kids, sleeping on an old mattress they had scrounged up, were gone. 

Last night, after being defeated by Nightdramon, Taichi and the remainder of the Digidestined had flew over to Daisuke's house. The young man had insisted on coming along despite everyone else's protests. But he did prove a useful asset: the enemies wouldn't know to look here, and his house was pretty much unharmed by the attacks. 

Taichi walked into the living room of Daisuke's appartment. Nick and Anzu were sitting on the couch, watching cartoons like nothing had happened. _Funny how kids can bounce back like that._ Matt, presumably awakened by the aforementioned children, sat on the recliner in the same clothes as yesterday, knocking back a few bottles of beer. Normally, Taichi would have chided him for drinking in front of the children, but current circumstances suggested that they would soon be exposed to a lot worse. Jou was in the appartment's small kitchen, making breakfast. 

"Morning, everybody," Taichi yawned. Nick and Anzu gave a cursory nod, Matt muttered something, and Jou gave a cheery hello. Taichi sat down next to his kids, and began to watch the cartoon with some bemusement. 

After a while Sora got up, and the bouncing balls of energy (also known as In-Training Digimon) joined them. Jou served up omlettes around noon, but with the meager provisions Daisuke stocked ("Ah, single living," Taichi had reminisced) they weren't enough to fill the bellies of four adults, two children and three black holes. Their host had yet to emerge from his room. 

"So Jou," Taichi said as he scraped the last of his omlette of his plate. "What's our game plan?" Taichi hated to bring up the subject of this battle now, but they couldn't afford to pretend like nothing had happened. 

"Well, the way I see it's a fight or flight situation," Jou said, happy to be in charge of tactics now that Koushiro was gone (though he wouldn't have been happy if he realized that was the reason.) "We either confront this guy--at day, since that's when he's probably weakest--or try to get away and maybe defeat him some other way." 

"What's the situation in the city?" Agumon asked. Taichi glanced over, not having realized that the In-trainings had digivolved to Rookies. _Can anyone say "blink and miss it?"_

"There are a couple of minions, same ones we saw last night, circling around and generally keeping 'order'," Jou said. "There's some sporadic gaurding of the roads out of town, but nothing to really worry about." 

"Then how about," Sora said, interjecting into the conversation, "We get out of town, smash whatever passes for gaurds around here, go over to America and Australia and pick up Mimi and Takeru, maybe try to get some backup from the Digital World, then we head back and kill this freak. 

"Uh, just one problem," Matt muttered cynically. "How?" 

"I think I can answer part of that," Biyomon chirped. "When I was in the Digital World, Birdramon was pretty much my natural form. I can probably fly across the ocean without reverting, but I could only carry a couple people." 

"Or we could try to get access to the Digital World through that portal in the sky," Jou suggested. 

"Bad idea," Matt said flatly. "We'd most likely land in the middle of Nightdramon's stronghold, and that wouldn't be good." 

"We can discuss this later," Sora said with a wave of her hand, noticing the confused expression on Nick and Anzu's face. The two left the table and went back to their cartoons. "For now, let's get that damn sack of potatoes out of bed. It's nearly one!" 

Kei's head throbbed dully as he began to stir. What had happened? He remembered heading into the Shrine of Courage with the Paladimon...but after that everything was a blur. He felt that his head was lying against warm concrete, begging for him to get up. Slowly, he rose himself from the ground, bringing himself from a kneeling position. He opened his eyes, under much pressure from the bright sunlight, and looked downwards at the sidewalk. 

_Wait a minute...sidewalk?_

Filled with a new energy, Kei got up and looked around wildly. He was home! Regular Tokyo, with it's dominating skyline and (strangely absent now) giant crowds. Wonderful Tokyo! 

And in front of him...his house! Rejoycing inside, Kei ran up to the front door of his small house and threw it open. "Mom! Dad! Hayako! I'm hooome!" Expecting to be swept up in welcomes (and stern punishment, as he didn't expect them to believe his side of the story... he wasn't even sure if he believed it himself), he was instead humbled by the silence that followed. 

"Guys?" he asked, a dread feeling coming over him as he walked through the house. It looked as if things had been stopped in mid-dinner, as there were still (conspicuous-smelling) bowls out, half-filled with soup, and the living room was as messy as ever. But he got his biggest surprise when he turned the corner towards the basement. 

Against the storage closet, his little sister Hayako hung motionless, nailed to the cabinet by a large butcher's knife. The knife had pierced _through _the young girl, and she was clearly devoid of life. The blood ran down her school uniform, finally pooling into a puddle at the landing. Her face, however, was clean and pristine, eyes closed and expression neutral in the calm of death. "Oh my god..." 

He leaned over and vomited, taking care not to touch his sister's prone form. From the corner of his ear, he heard a low chuckle. Kei sat up, trying to gauge the sound, but there was just silence again. Not wanting to risk stepping in the horrid mix of blood and vomit, Kei decided to tiptoe away, hoping that somebody was around to explain what had happened. 

He heard the laugh again, upstairs. Hoping to catch it's owner, Kei sprinted up the stairs, hoping that he wouldn't find another catastrophe. 

It was in vain. The door to his parents' bedroom was wide open, inviting anyone to see the grotesque scene within. The wardrobe had toppled over, and clearly taken something with it. Kei knew that the blood-red stain on the carpet was all that remained of his mother. His father's death was more clear: he lay downward on the bed, his head two feet away, mounted on the bed's headboard. 

Kei trembled, and began to dry heave when he heard the voice behind him. "Sad, isn't it?" The second he heard those words, he knew who was responsible...and who he must kill. 

He stood up slowly, and came face to face with Ryo Ayanami. Ryo was still in the school uniform that Kei had last seen him in, which seemed prim and untouched by anything. Kei's, in contrast, was full of holes and was covered in stains of one sort or another. In his right hand, Ryo wielded an ebon broadsword stained with blood. Rage fueling him, Kei layed into Ryo with a vicious uppercut. 

The punch connected, but did not seem to faze Ryo in the slightest. "Tsk tsk," he chided, shaking his head. "I could have counted on you to do that. Always sinking to the lowest common denominator to resolve a problem. But that's okay. Isn't that what they taught you to do?" 

Kei flew at Ryo in a whirlwind of fists and feet, but the older boy barely seemed to notice it. "Don't...you...DARE! Talk...bad...about...THEM!" 

"Oh, not your parents," Ryo said, waving his hand in the air casually. The simple movement sent Kei flying back in a whirlwind, not harming him but keeping him away from Ryo. "Society. The only way to get ahead in this world is by slavishly serving those who are more powerful than you, and then taking their power. The only way to be known is to do something so despicable it shows up on the TV news. The path of least resistance is the most grotesque." 

Kei stopped. Why was Ryo philosiphizing now? All of a sudden, he saw his father's decapitated head, and flew at Ryo with a new fury. He seemed just as indifferent as before to Kei's raging strikes. "Do you understand, now? I didn't hate you because you did anything to me. I did it because you forgot all your hatred and rolled over for me on command once I became popular." 

There was an unwelcome flash of memory. Motoro, an older boy, and a couple of his friends--including an eight-year-old Kei--stood over a third-grade Ryo, sporting a bruised face and a pair of shiny braces. A _Gundam _comic hit the ground beside him. 

"Ah, look," Motoro sneered. "Has the kid lost his comic book? Why don't you check over here?" The upperclassman hefted Ryo up by his shirt, and threw him into the pool of mud created by a recent rainstorm. 

"H-hey!" Kei exclaimed. "Looks like it's there after all!" The younger boy kicked the comic into the same puddle, obscuring its pages and ruining it permanently. 

Ryo, full of pent-up rage, slowly stood up from the ground, shaking in anger. "I...I'll kill you!" With a howl, he launched himself at Kei, delivering a vicious blow that knocked the blond-haired boy to the ground. 

Kei was snapped out of his memory, but he still felt the blow, for the present Ryo had followed it through. "After that, I was top dog in school for beating up Motoro. Barbaric, isn't it? You are only as respected as your power. And they call this civilization," he said with a sneer. 

Kei hoisted himself to his feet, and he was about to retort or resume attacking, but Ryo continued. "Your family couldn't see it my way. So I did what I had done before to gain their dependance--I showed them my power. Turns out there's quite the double standard here, eh Kei? So I'm giving you a chance right here and now. Come with me, and we'll create a society in which all are truly equal. Or, if it resorts to the barbarism of this world, then we shall at least be honest about it. Or continue this pointless struggle and die like the rest of your kin. Your choice." 

Kei stood still for a moment. Then he raised his eyes angrily. "You're right. I was stupid, always going with the flow, never thinking for myself. Starting from now, I'm going to have principles. The first of which, of course, is to _never _go with you!" With this, Kei delivered a powerful punch to Ryo's chest. As soon as the fist connected, his world flashed bright orange. 

Kei was catapulted out of that world and into another. He was in a dimly lit room, with a cold stone floor and walls. Laying on the floor, collapsed, were Lily and their entourage of Paladimon. All of them were unconcious, and had a dark haze around their head. _Was that what happened to me?_

Kei peered through the doorway. They were still in the Shrine of Courage. Ryo, or his house, was nowhere to be seen. Behind him, some of the Paladimon started stirring. And from his perspective, Kei could see an obsidian black shape heading into the doorway. 

He had never seen them before, but Kei knew that they were DarkKnightmon. 

To Be Continued... 

[AN:Hey everybody! Sorry that his fic hasn't been updated in a while, but I've been working on others. (If you're into Yu-Gi-Oh! or Shaman King, take a look via my profile.) This chapter is (I think) a lot longer than the other ones, but it really only encompasses a third of what I initially had planned. I've also started a website, dedicated to a whole bunch of stuff. Once again, check it out through my profile.]


	8. Enshrouded In Flame

Chapter 8:Enshouded In Flame

All around Kei, the others were awakening from their spirit-induced dreams. A few Paladimon were already up and running inwards, towards the centre of the cave where the DigiEgg was supposed to be held. Lily was still down on the ground, curled up in the fetal position. She muttered the names of family members in desperation as she wept. Kei knelt down next to her, trying to calm the girl, but she seemed impenetrable.

"Leave her," commanded one of the Paladimon. "The girl must face her trials alone. If she is not worthy to enter this shrine, then she shall die. There is nothing that can be done."

Kei's cheeks flushed angrily. Hearing the thunderous footsteps of the DarkKnightmon growing louder, he protested "We can't! They'll kill her!"

"They must face the same trials as we do," the Paladimon reasoned, his tone unchanging. "And believe me, with their dark hearts, none shall pass. Now come. We shall need as many as we can, and you have already proved yourself to me."

The brown-haired boy glanced back. Danger was near, and he now felt afraid instead of angry. "All right," he said softly. Thinking his job done, Paladimon turned and galloped off.

The next room was a long and narrow hallway made of some sort of orange stone. The walls were covered with tapestries depicting lions and other fearsome beasts. The majority of the floor was not floor at all, but a path of coals that steamed with heat. The Paladimon paid this obstacle no heed, and charged ahead single file, though a few horses let out shrieks of pain.

"Gee, don't I get a horse?" Kei wondered snidely, though no one was listening. He noted that he was already falling behind, with legs much shorter than the mounts. "Oh well... here goes..." 

Sucking in a breath, Kei leapt forward onto the coals. They felt hotter than anything Kei had ever touched! Letting out a yelp, he sprinted onto the next coal, and having it burn the other foot. He kept the picture of Lily and the DarkKnightmon advancing, in his mind as he sprinted across the bed of coals. When he reached the tile at the end, the soles of his shoes had been melted, and he sported several large burns on his foot. But the pain seemed far away.

Walking testily on his injured feet, he went into the next room as far as he could determine,  
the centre of the temple. It was a large circular chamber, resembling almost a religious place.  
The DigiEgg lay in the centre, but truth be told, it didn't look like muchsimply a round egg,  
with flamelike designs, and something that might have been a horn sticking out of it. "That's it?" Kei asked.

"Yes," one of the Paladimon said, with a deep voice. Kei noticed he had dismounted. Looking back, he now saw what he presumed to be the final hazarda ring of lava, fifteen feet wide,  
surrounding the island on which the egg sat. The only way to get there, besides making an impossible jump, was a series of small rock spires, forming stepping stones to the other side. They looked pointy, and somewhat flimsy.

Kei paused. He supposed that one of the Paladimon would have to leap from spire to spire on foot. But something told him that wasn't such a good idea.

With a loud crash, the far wall of the domed room fell in, and a group of DarkKnightmon marched through. This was the first time Kei had actually seen them, and he realized that they looked a lot like Paladimon, only instead of shining white their armour was obsidian black. They all carried an assortment of painful, medieval weapons.

"Curses!" cried the Paladimon who had spoke before, reaching for his lance and steed. "They must have found a way to get through without the test! Curs!"

Kei looked towards the advancing DarkKnightmon, and then at the DigiEgg sitting out in the middle of the lava. "I'll get it. You go and fight them. I'm lighter anyway," he volunteered himself. Several of the Paladimon gave him what might have been questioning looks, but he couldn't see their faces.

Then, the deep-voiced Paladimon gave a simple "God speed, Humon."

Kei grinned. "I told you not to call me that." But the Paladimon had already gone, leading the charge into battle. The DarkKnightmon met them. Crusade Lance attacks were met with Dark Blades, and Kei couldn't make out much of the battle. He remembered that he had a task, and turned to the stepping stones that led to the DigiEgg. Then, for a moment, Kei hesitated. There sure was a lot of space between spires...

He shook his head, to clear it. The others were counting on himthose Paladimon were fighting so that he could do this. Determined not to look down, Kei leapt out to the first rock protrusion, two feet away. He made it, but felt the hard rock jab into his already tender feet.  
There was barely room enough for one foot, and it felt somewhat wobbly as it was. Scared of falling, Kei jumped to the next one.

And so he continued, doing a sort of wide run as he went from spire to spire, his fear of falling keeping him moving until finally he hit the large island in the middle, causing him to stumble. He saw the DigiEgg in front of him, and heard the raucous sounds of battle behind him. Grimly,  
he reached forward and touched the weapon.

But it wouldn't budge. It was slightly warm to the touch, but it seemed stuck to the stonealmost as if it was a part of it. Kei moaned and yanked on it, but if anything it seemed more firmly entrenched.

He turned his head, and saw that one of the DarkKnightmon had abandoned the battle and was leaping straight at him! This fellow, a bit larger than normal, seemed to have given up on fighting and just leapt across the gap. He's not going to make it, Kei thought. But then the DarkKnightmon stood up on his stead, using it to propell his jump onto the platform. The black horse let out a cry as it fell into the lava.

The DarkKnightmon landed with a thump on the rock island. Kei kept pulling at the DigiEgg of Courage, but it wouldn't budge. He looked up and gulped. The Ultimate Digimon seemed a lot larger in person. He held up his weapona morningstar, known to Kei as just a spiked ball on a chainand began to twirl it in circles, the bludgeon crackling with dark energy. In no time at all, it had formed a spinning disc of darkness. Kei looked up in panic before the DarkKnightmon brought it down with a cry of "DARK BLADE!"

Kei scrambled out of the way, which probably saved his life. Still, the dark energy cut into his left side, just to the left of his ribs. The boy let out a cry of pain, and fell to the ground. The DarkKnightmon loomed above him, giving what Kei imagined must have been a condensing smile before bringing the blade of dark energy down again for a finishing blow.

The brown-haired boy could have evaded it, but he didn't feel like running. Even if he did, what would he do? He couldn't dodge for ever, nor could he abandon the egg. The others were counting on him. With that, Kei jumped to his feet, a new vigour inspiring him, as the dark attack cut into the ground where he used to be. Kei threw out a punch...

And recoiled as it hit hard armour, causing Kei to stumble back with bruised knuckles. The knight Digimon laughed and attacked with another "DARK BLADE!"

But this one didn't hit either. The DarkKnightmon, confused, saw that Kei was still wincing, waiting for the inevitable blow. But what had stopped the attack was the DigiEgg, having removed itself from it's pedestal. The artifact's orange aura had negated the dark energy and deflected the mace.

Kei opened his eyes, and was fascinated. The DigiEgg itself had saved him. With an odd sort of sentience, it now attacked, the horn-like protrusion stabbing through the chinks in the knight's armour. DarkKnightmon stumbled back, then burst into flame. Letting out a cry of anguish, the Digimon joined his horse in the lava.

Now it floated in front of Kei, waiting. He nodded, understanding what he never knew. He planted his hand on the DigiEgg, and though it was still hot, it was the warmth of courage. Channelling it's power, he yelled "DIGI-ARMOUR ENERGIZE!"

The boy emerged warm from his shell, and wearing a body armour. It had the same pattern as the DigiEgg of Courage, and completely covered his legs and chest. It also extended down his arms, but instead of gloves ended in some kind of cannon-shaped things. Kei felt odd, as if he was lacking something. But to hell with that! There was a battle going on.

With a mighty leap, Kei travelled over the lava and into the centre of battle. This disrupted it quite a lot. The newly armoured teen started attacking DarkKnightmon immediately, brawling like he never knew how to. With the final uppercut in a long chain of blows, Kei's fists caught on fire, but it didn't hurt. Instead, he used it to his advantage, yelling "INFERNO PUNCH!" The fiery attack knocked one DarkKnightmon off his horse.

"CRUSADE LANCE!" yelled a Paladimon, a beam of light extending from his lance to impale the downed DarkKnightmon. The viral Digimon let out a cry before exploding into digital fragments. Slowly, the Paladimon force was winning. Kei believed that the had turned the tide of battlehe wasn't as strong as the others, but he was more agile, which had helped to end the fierce stand-off they had before.

With two DarkKnightmon down and another injured, the attacking forces decided to exercise the better part of valour. Covering their tracks with a wall of Dark Blades, they whipped their horses around and galloped through the hole in the wall they had entered through.

Kei growled, and gave chase. He charged directly through the attacks, not waiting until they had dissipated. It hurt a bit, but strangely, he didn't mind. He finally realized what was missing from this situationfear. He honestly didn't care what happened to him, as long as it helped the goal. It was an exhilarating feeling.

With the added power in his legs, Kei was almost as fast as the DarkKnightmon's horses. Indeed, he caught up with the slowest onea knight somewhat scrawnier than the othersand, with one leap, landed on the back of his horse.

"What?" shouted the DarkKnightmon in an oddly familiar tone. Feeling the weight of two riders, the horse bucked wildly, making keeping balance even harder for Kei.

He decided to take the fight to better conditions for himthe ground. "INFERNO PUNCH!" He cried again, unleashing an uppercut on the knight. To his surprise, it knocked his opponent off the horse, at about the same time Kei was thrown off as well. The DarkKnightmon's helmet had been lifted into the air and fell down several feet away. Strange, that hadn't happened to any of the others.

"Holy shit! Kei?" asked his prone opponent. Kei got to his knees before looking up to see a familiar faceone he had forgotten about in the last day or so.

"Ryo?" Kei asked in disbelief. Sure enough, there was Ryo Akiyama, complete with ruffled brown hair and an arrogant smirk on his face. "What the hell are you doing on their side?"

"Their side?" Ryo asked. "Don't tell me you've gotten into a war already?"

"Well, isn't that what you've done?" Kei asks, blood boiling. It felt as if Ryo had betrayed him shattering what little trust or respect he had for the guy.

"No," Ryo said, taking on a serious look. "I came for my Digivice, Kei. Give it back and I'll let you go."

"Huh?" Kei asked, taken aback by the request.

"That!" Ryo yelled, pointing at the square device which now hung at Kei's waist.

The newly-empowered Kei paused for a moment. Would it really matter if he gave Ryo what he wanted. No, the boy had clearly gone badwell, worse than before. If he wanted it, there must be more to the devices than Kei had thought. The younger boy snarled. "No."

"Damnit, give it to me!" Ryo yelled, charging forth once again. "DARK BLADE!" Kei's new enemy did a perfect imitation of the DarkKnightmon attack, and his shortsword rammed through Kei's breastplate. Kei fell back, but was not seriously wounded.

Ryo pressed the offense, leaping on Kei and trying to tear the Digivice from him. They brawled on the ground, exchanging gaunletted punches until Kei finally thew Ryo away with an Inferno Punch.

It was about that Lily ran into the middle of the fight. "Stop!" she yelled emotionally. "Ryo, what are you doing here? Why are you two fighting?"

"I'll explain later," Kei said, leveling his arm cannon. "Get out of the way, Lily."

"No!" Lily protested.

Ryo, meanwhile, had gotten up. The fire attack had more or less melted one of the arms on his black armour, but didn't seem hurt aside from a burn on his face. "You've got her on your side, Kei?" he asked with disgust. He began charging his blade with dark energy.

"I'm not on anyone's side!" Lily snapped. "Now why don't you two boys stop fighting for once and tell me what's going on!"

Both opened their mouths, but a low horn, loud and gutteral, interrupted them. "Fine," Ryo said,  
sheathing his sword and dismissing the dark energy. "You win this round, Miyamo. But I'll be back." With that, he sprinted away.

"What was that all about?" Lily asked, walking over to Kei.

"Don't ask me," replied the equally puzzled boy. "Apparently he wanted one of these," he indicated the device. Then, suddenly, Kei dropped to the floor, panting. "Heh... guess Ryo got a few more hits in than I thought."

Lily was about to reprimand him, when she noticed a black shape moving over the hill behind Kei.  
"Watch out! They're coming again!"

Kei looked up and muttered some choice obscenities. A swarm of DarkKnightmon was advancing down the hill, waving their weapons menacingly. "I can't... fight them," he managed to get out.

"It's okay," Lily said. "Loremon told me about this place... but we have to hurry!"

"I'll be fine," Kei said as he rose to his feet. With a thought, the armour disappeared, as it was draining his now low supply of energy and would be wearing him down. He knew, though, that the armour was still in his possession somehow.

Following Lily's lead, Kei ran into the forest, darting between trees and over bushes. The blond-haired girl seemed full of energy, and was determined to reach the unknown point of salvation. It was a side of her Kei hadn't seen before.

The DarkKnightmon were pursuing them on horseback, and Kei knew that in a straight chase they would have already been cut down by now. But this forest was quite dense, and the DarkKnightmon had to choose between trying near-impossible manoeuvres to get their horse around the trees, slowing down so that their prey were faster than them, or cutting through the trees. None of the options seemed to be particularly successful.

Still, one of them was moving at breakneck speed around the trees, and gaining on Kei and Lily. "There it is!" Lily yelled, pointing forward. Kei didn't see it at first, but realized that a small sliver of the forest seemed oddnot like the rest. Then he realized that it actually was a different place. "It's a portal!" Lily explained before leaping through.

Unfortunately, the DarkKnightmon was now almost directly on Kei. Worse yet, the portal was closing rather quickly, and Kei wondered if he would be able to get through. The DarkKnightmon raised his sword. "DARK..."

With one last shot of adrenaline, Kei jumped and hit the ground in a ball. "...BLADE!" The dark attack cut into the ground, but missed the boy completely. As it shut, Kei rolled through the portal and landed on the other side, flat on his back.

"Okay..." Kei panted, out of energy. "I'm done." He looked up at their new surroundings. They were in a lush green forest, verging on being a jungle. He heard all sorts of animal calls around him. Lily stood above him, looking similarly worn out but still concerned. But what drew Kei's attention was above them.

It was a giant red tree, and from it hung what looked to be an entire town. The wooden structure was suspended by dozens of cables, and hung like a birdhouse. Kei saw several layers of homes, stores, and streets, with little peopleDigimon, he supposedwalking on them. It was simply magnificent.

"Azlynth," Lily said, remembering what the DarkKnightmon had told her. "The hanging city."

To be continued...

Author's Notes:

This chapter should have been done sooner. Well, it was done sooner, but my laptop was being an ass. Anyways, I think this chapter came out well, even if it mutated a bit from my original plans (the whole fic is doing it... don't they always?) So, see you whenever the next chapter is out, I suppose. 


	9. Desert Battle

Chapter 9:Desert Battle 

The sun beat down upon the desert, giving no mercy to the band of travellers. As they approached their destination, it seemed to grow hotter, with the winds blowing sand into their faces. Reile covered her face, while Noriko whimpered.

"When are we going to get there?" Aera complained.

"Soon," replied one of their Salamandramon guides. There was one at the front, with Kou, forging the path, while the other three stood around them in positions such as to protect the Order members while at the same time fencing them in.

"Be careful when we reach the Tower," Kou advised in a neutral voice. "Efreetimon is a Mega Digimonnot something to be trifled with, at least not at our current power level. Be respectful, and if it comes to battle, do not be afraid to flee."

"I won't run away," promised Ryushi, somewhat defiantly. Nobody responded.

A couple minutes later, a tall structure became visible across the desert. Reile noted that the heat had became only more repressive by now, and she was sweating buckets. As they neared, it took shapea large red tower, a giant cobra poking it's head out of the desert. Reile reached for her Digivice, sensing conflict.

They finally reached the tower, and for some reason it seemed hotter in the monolith's shade. The Salamandramon lay down their arms, on one knee and with their eyes closed. "Oh great Efreetimon. These outsiders have come, and request a wish from you. Great genie of fire, arise!"

Smoke filled the air, and the tower glowed with energy. A creature emerged from ita Digimon, presumably. The smoke cleared, and Efreetimon loomed before all of them. He was humanoid, but about twice the size of your average person, and he was just a cloud from the waist down. His skin was dark red, and flames circled around him.

"WHAT DO YOU WISH OF ME?" he boomed, causing all of the Order members but Kou to jump.

"I wish for the key that you have," their leader said evenly.

The Mega Digimon laughed deeply. "I APOLOGIZE, BUT THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME IN EXCHANGE FOR A WISH. IT IS PART OF MY PERSONAL TREASURE NOW, AND TREASURE IT I DO. EVEN YOUR STATUS AS A DIGIDESTINED CANNOT PERSUADE ME TO PART WITH IT."

The other Order members turned and whispered about. Kou was one of the DigiDestined? Well, it would explain a bit, but there was definitely no reason why he shouldn't have a Digimon...

Ignoring them, their cloaked leader paused for a minute and said "By itself, the item is more or less uselessin fact, the signal waves it broadcasts could even be used to track you down. Having something like this is dangerous if you don't know how to use it, and you're hardly the most powerful Digimon out there."

"IS THAT A THREAT?" Efreetimon asked with a sneer, his body bloating so as to be intimidating.

"No," Kou answered icily. "I merely ask you to consider that you are only the baron-esque lord of this small desert, not the entire"

"INSOLENCE!" cried Efreetimon. "BURNING WISH!"

"Hit the dirt!" Kou commanded, and the eight Order members made a scramble for the ground, each in a different direction. A burning star of energy struck, creating a bright explosion but not really harming any of it's targets.

"Strike!" he commanded angrily, and his disciples held up their Digivices. "He may be powerful, but he's not invincible!"

"Hawkmon digivolve to...Aquilamon!"

"SnowAgumon digivolve to...Mojyamon!"

"ToyAgumon digivolve to...Clockmon!"

Kou was also changing, in a way that both fascinated and repulsed Reile. The wind swirled around him, and his few human features vanished into the shadow of his cloak. "run program:kou.rookie," said a voice, cold and mechanical.

The Salamandramon seemed to have fled quite quickly, so the Order's Digimon launched their attacks valiantly. "Puppy Howling!"

"Blast Rings!"

"Rain of Pollen!"

"Bone Boomerang!"

"Time Buster!"

"Rainbow Beam!"

The six attacks, all of varying strengths, arced towards Efreetimon, who allowed them to hit him harmlessly. "IMPUDENT FOOLS! BURNING WISH!" The fiery attack was spread out in a ring arcing outwards, covering more ground and creating a wall of fire that all of the Order members scrambled again to avoid.

This new Kou grabbed the Digivices at Reile and Toby's sides, startling the former. "run program:force.digivolution"

Instantly, Illuomon and Patamon's forms burst into light, causing Reile to cover her eyes. She was confused as to what was going on, but it looked like they were about to digivolve.

"Illuomon digivolve to... Oasimon!" The purple lion-like Digimon was Illuomon's standard digivolution, but it didn't stop Reile from looking over the new form, fascinated.

However, the other glowing Digimon's size was fluctuating wildly, and a bit dangerously. "Aaagh!" cried Patamon. Toby, previously fairly reserved, rushed to his partner's side. "It...hurts..." A second later and Patamon burst into data.

"50 success rate," Kou remarked. "suggest/joint.attack on efreeti.mon"

"What the hell?" a teary Toby demanded.

"Everyone, attack the same spot on his body!" Miyako ordered, the only one who seemed fully on top of the situation. "Go!"

"Blast Rings!" Energy rings shot from Aquilamon's horns, bent inwards and overlapping with each other.

"Bone Boomerang!" Mojyamon threw his bone weapon in the path of the blast wings.

"Time Buster!" Clockmon threw another blue energy orb at Efreetimon.

"Rain of Pollen!" Floramon, the last Rookie left, shot a spray of yellow pollen powder out.

"Constrict!" The newly-evolved Oasimon's tentacles stretched up to smack Oasimon in the chest.

Surprisingly, the one to finish up the attack was Kou. The robed figure extended an insect-like hand from his cloak, which crackled with purple electricity. With a mighty leap, he jumped up to the spot where the five attacks had just hit. "execute attack:thunder claw" He slammed his hand into the centre of Efreetimon's chest, the thunder seeming to actually do some damage to the Mega.

Efreetimon's eyes lit up, and they were pure red. "DIE, FOOLS! BURNING WISH! BURNING WISH! BURNING WISH!" One of the attacks was aimed at the ground, the other two at Kou.

Kou evaded the first attack, but was grazed by the second ring of flame, causing him to spiral a bit to the side and clutch his left arm. On the ground, all of the Order members, though confused, made a run for it, but on the way Ryan tripped over a rock in the sand.

"Bro!" Yelled Ryushi, running towards his younger brother at full speed.

"Don't" Ryan began, but was silenced when Ryushi reached him and pulled the black-haired boy into a bear hug.

"Mojyamon!" Ryushi commanded, and the arctic Digimon appeared beside him. Not needing any further instruction, it grabbed Ryan out of Ryushi's arms and tossed him over its shoulder, near where Aera was crouchinga second before the wave of flame reached them, incinerating Ryushi and Mojyamon.

"RYUSHIIII!" cried out Ryan, anguished.

In the air, Kou was aware of the drama on the ground, but paid it little mind. He knew, though, that he needed to defeat Efreetimon quickly, before there were any more casualties among the Order. "run program:kou.champion"

A pillar of purple light enveloped Kou, and his form changed once again. This time, six insect-like wings burst from his back, and two claw-like appendages slithered forward from his sleeves. His cloak blew in the wind intimidatingly.

Efreetimon's crimson eyes narrowed. "YOU INSOLENT FOOL! YOU THINK THAT OUR WORLD IS JUST A PLAYTHING! DIE! BURNING WISH!"

"increase variable:speed" Kou muttered, then suddenly snapped to the side, dodging the fireball. He flew at Efreetimon like a bullet, thunder breaking through the air. " execute attack:ball lightning."

Kou held out his claw-hands, and the purple electricity quickly gathered between them. In no time, it had formed a crackling orb of lightning. Kou held it over his head and threw it directly at Efreetimon.

The sphere struck the large genie monster and impacted into his chest. Efreetimon let out a startled shout as the purple thunder blast wounded him, and was followed up by a wing hit.

"INSOLENCE!" Efreetimon repeated as he clapped his hands together swiftly, catching Kou in his grasps. An angry scream let out as Efreetimon crushed the order leader with his flaming palms.

"Kou!" yelled Miyako, rushing forward.

"Easy," steadied Aquilamon. "He's the only one who can do this. The rest of us are all out of t heir league."

A purple light burst from under Efreetimon's hands. The genie Mega let out an anguished cry as purple electricity coursed over his body powerfully. The light grew brighter as Efreetimon twitched and spasmed. His digital body swirled and pulsed, looking itself highly unstable.

Finally, with a cry, the Mega Digimon burst apart into thousands of pixels, which drifted away into the atmosphere. A much smaller form fell from the sky smoking. Kou hit the ground with a thump, greatly wounded from the battle.

"Kou!" cried Miyako, rushing to the fallen warrior's side. He seemed to have reverted back to his regular form, because his singed arms were in human form. This was the first time Reile had seen Kou uncloakedmost of the robe was burnt. He was a man in his mid-thirties, with red hair and a hint of a beard. His eyes seemed dull, as if without any emotion behind them.

Kou cracked a smile. "Sorry Miyako...seems like I overdid it on that one...and after I told you not to underestimate him... Sorry, but I think I'm going to die now."

"Koushiro," Miyako sobbed, as the other Order members stood around, confused. "Don't say that... you can't die..."

"There's a chance I'll be reborn..." Kou said. "In any case, you're chapter leader, okay? Things are dangerous now...stay safe..." With that, the coding holding Kou's body together released, and the pixels blew away in the wind, leaving only a sobbing purple-haired girl.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

There, _now_ he's dead.

I've decided to work on my stories in spurts instead of as a queue, because I find it's easier to get "into" a story I've worked on recently. So, you may see more of this story over the next month or so, and then nothing for a while.


	10. Tainted Hunter

Chapter 10:Tainted Hunter 

Ken looked over the city of New York with dismay. Most of the city had not been seriously harmed in the attack, but there was still a lot of it that was destroyed. The ashen remains of skyscrapers leaned over precariously, looking like they might finally give up and collapse soon. But he was not hear to ponder New York's fate. He was here to do a job.

It was really quite an unusual series of events that brought Ken to this path--that of an assassin. He had been sent to a prestigious school in America when he was fourteen, based on his excellence at all he pursued--both mental and physical--in his native Japan. Once at the school,  
his performance was not as spectacular, as the whole school was filled with Ken Ichijoujis from around the world. He got on the school soccer team, and got in the top 10 for some math tests, but other than that was average. And that had driven him nuts.

Ken quit the school at eighteen, when he was legally allowed to, and headed to New York to eke out a living. He managed to make a decent living as a clerk, but it wasn't satisfying. And then, somehow, he had acquired a debt to a local gang and was forced to come with them on one of their "operations."

Things had gone wrong, and Ken had killed a man. But strangely, as relived the moment in his head over and over again, he found that he had enjoyed it. A couple months later, they offered to pay him to off a rival gang's leader, and he succeeded admirably... and everything had pretty much gone from there.

Which is what brought him to today, taking a hit on a second-tier fashion designer. It wasn't something he'd usually do, but when the demonic lord of your city comes to you, you don't turn him down. Ken wondered why Daemon had chosen him, and her as the target, but those were questions he knew wouldn't be answered.

Ken flattened himself against the grass, keeping one hand on his gun holster just for reassurance, as he infiltrated the home of Mimi Tachikawa.

I shouldn't be doing my hair right now, thought Mimi as she scrubbed some more of the dye into her hair. I should be out saving the world again, or at least helping. But she knew that even if she had Palmon again, she would be no match for Daemon, and since the phone lines were cut in the attack she wasn't able to reach the others in Japan.

Mimi finished up with her dye job, and wrapped a towel around her head. Her hair was like a personal billboard:she often used it to express herself, or get a message herself. In wake of the recent attacks, she had died it an almost flesh like peach colour, with crimson streaks--almost like bleeding flesh. Not that pretty, but a statement none the less.

Since moving to America shortly after her adventure in the Digital World, Mimi had taken up the illustrious career of fashion design. She wasn't a big name, but she made decent money--enough to afford a two-story home in New York, which she was usually alone in.

All of a sudden, Mimi was overtaken by an urge to help--if not to solve the problems, at least to help somebody, one life would be all it would take... Maybe if they all worked together...

Mimi was brought out of her reverie when she noticed a bullet speeding at her. Gasping, she stumbled back, and it managed to only clip her shoulder. Ken, opposite her, cursed and brought his gun to bear once more before she could do or say anything.

"Poison Ivy!" A long, vine like tendril snapped out of apparently nowhere and wrapped around Ken's hand. The shock caused him to jerk, and his shot hit only the roof.

Mimi gasped-- Palmon, her Digimon partner of twenty-five years prior, was now standing in the hallway between the her and her attacker, looking very irate. Her vines were wrapped around the assassin's gun hand, and the others were drawn back as if ready to attack. "Don't mess with Mimi, okay buddy?"

What is this thing? Ken wondered. Then he again remembered that it was not his business to ask questions. He lunged to the side, taking advantage of his sly strength to break out of Palmon's grapple, and shot at the green monster again.

However, Palmon had already used her hold on Ken's arm to thrust herself into the air at the black-haired assassin, letting out a battle cry. The bullet missed again, hitting the ground as she slammed into the right side of Ken's chest and bit down into his shirt.

"Gah! cried Ken, waving his gun and pointing it straight at Mimi. "Let go of me, you freak, or I'll kill the girl!" However, this only made Palmon even more angry. She released her pollen straight at Ken, who stumbled. He fired repeatedly, but all his shots missed and instead took a good chunk out of Mimi's walls.

Out of bullets, and with Palmon's tendrils wrapped around both of his arms, Ken had no choice but to surrender. He kneeled down uncomfortably. _Damnit...I screwed up._

Jou held his head in his hands, more than a bit miserable. The four assembled DigiDestined seemed to have given up on strategy. Now dusk was setting over Tokyo, Sora and Tai were playing with/consoling their kids, Yamato was brooding, and Daisuke was watching TV while muttering angrily about Kari. They were no closer to forming a plan than they had been this morning.

A ringing distracted Jou from his thoughts. He absentmindedly dug into his pocket and pulled out its source--his top-of-the-line PDA. Who would be messaging me now? However, when he read the message's tag line, he was immediately shocked.

"Sora, Tai, Matt!" called Jou urgently. Daisuke looked over, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. "It's from Gennai!"

"Really?" said Agumon hopefully. "What's he got to say?"

"Let's see," replied Jou as he opened the message. To his surprise, it wasn't an animated graphic but a text message with an attachment.

_Jou,_

_Just thought that with everything that's going on, this little program would be useful.  
It's a digital gate, though I'm not quite sure how it'll work if you try to run it on a machine this small... knew I wouldn't get you at home. This is the last I can do for you, it's up to you kids now!_

_Gennai_

"Last I can do for you..." frowned Taichi, his intuition telling him that something wasn't right.  
"What's that mean?"

"I don't know, maybe it's some sort of prophecy," guessed Yamato. "But in any case, we have a portal now, right? That's one problem solved, at least."

Jou nodded. "But Gennai said we should run it on a more powerful computer... Daisuke, do you have a computer here?'

"Of course," replied the spiky-haired young man. "It's in the bedroom. I only use it for por-  
er, games." He had corrected his sentence at the last minute as he noticed that there were minors nearby.

The group quickly dispersed to Daisuke's cramped bedroom. Jou had transferred the program from his PDA to the computer (a few years old, but still useful) with ease, and ran it. After a tense few seconds, it came up. The Digital Gate program was a single window with settings that allowed you to alter your destination and the visitors. An image showed the destination in real time.

"Where should we go?" asked Sora.

"I think the default setting," said Gabumon. "Maybe the old man set it to where we should go naturally."

"Good idea," said Jou. "All right, are we ready to go now?"

"Basically," said Taichi. "I mean, we don't have much of our stuff with us, and less of it that would be of any use. Daisuke, look after Nick and Anzu while we're gone."

"No way," said Daisuke defiantly. "I'm coming with you. I want to look for Kari."

"That's nice," said Sora testily. "But it's tough in the digital world, and we need someone to look after the kids. I'm sorry, Daisuke but you'll have to stay behind."

"No!" yelled Daisuke.

"Yes!" insisted Sora.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!

Sora began to argue back, but ended it prematurely with a sigh. They were wasting time here, and Daisuke didn't look like he was going to budge. "All right, have it your way. Me and Biyomon will stay here and look after the kids."

"Wha?" replied Daisuke, expecting to be arguing for at least another ten minutes.

"You don't have to--" began Taichi.

"Save it," said Sora curtly. "Biyomon can go Mega now, so I'll at least be of some use if any evil Digimon try to attack. Besides, Nick and Anzu need someone better to look after them than this deadbeat."

"Hey!" Daisuke protested, but decided not to push his luck.

Sora left the room, heading into the living room where the TV was still blaring. Taichi quickly followed her, while the others decided not to pry. The leader of the DigiDestined rested a hand on his wife's shoulder, stopping her. "Sora... are you sure?"

The red-haired woman paused for a moment, and turned to face Taichi. "Yes. I...can't leave them behind."

Tai nodded, remorsefully. Sora's strong maternal instincts were not something he would have expected long ago, but it made sense considering her crest and her strong feelings in general. "I understand."

Sora hugged her husband one last time, feeling the comforting warmth of his body. "Tai... this is all so terrible..."

"I know," said Taichi distantly. "But we'll pull through, Sora. We always have."

"All right," said Sora shakily, breaking away. She dried her watery eyes with her sleeve.  
"You had better get going."

"Yeah," said Taichi reluctantly. Spontaneously, he hugged his wife fiercely, then released her. "See you in a little while, okay Sora?"

"I'll count on it," she said determinedly.

Ken was still in the same position as he had been in an hour ago, although his hands were bound with silken rope instead of Palmon's vines now. He was disarmed and facing a virtual inquisition from his target and her mysterious guardian.

"I'm telling you," Ken snapped, "I don't know why! All I know is that Daemon asked me to kill you and he's one person I'm not going to argue with."

"Hmph," remarked Mimi. "So you don't have the spine? You'll just stick to killing defenceless women, Mr. Ichijoji?"

"It's not--" Ken hissed, before changing his mind. "I don't have to justify myself to you."

"Whatever," said Mimi. "Well, we'll just have to keep you here until there are some authorities. Who knows, maybe me and Palmon will bust out later on. Right now, I have business to do. Palmon, watch over him so that he doesn't escape, m'kay?"

"Right," said an obedient Palmon.

"Oh," Ken said to Mimi as she hurried up the small flight of stairs. "By the way, your hair looks ugly."

"Thank you," Mimi shot back.

There was some movement upstairs, but then it calmed down. There was the vague sound of something burning nearby, but other than that everything else was quiet. Palmon sat on the faux leather couch, watching Ken from a higher vantage point. She stared, unmoving, in her quiet vigil, occasionally baring what passed for claws.

Eventually, Mimi's voice came from upstairs again. "Palmon, get ready. We're going back to the Digital World."

Author's Notes:

Chapter 10! It's kind of a landmark! Personally, I'm surprised that this story is still going.  
I tend to have a history of starting impossibly large projects and then abandoning them. But hopefully this (and some of the other fics I'm writing) will break the trend.

As for this chapter, it sees the introduction of Ken and Mimi, leaving Iori as the only Digidestined yet to be included. I think Ken is probably my most drastic adjustment personality-wise, because so much of his personality was shaped by the events of and preceding 02. Of course, TK and Izzy are very much changed as well... the AU in this fic pretty much only affects characterization (the plot is completely different from the replaced season's), as the characters are aged 21 years older than we've seen them in canon.

And that's just about it for this chapter. By the way, sorry if the Sora/Tai scene was a bit awkward, but it's a bit outside my usual writing and I was hoping to add some emotion to the story. I think I'm going to work on some Shaman King things for a little bit before returning to Digimon--but don't fret! If all goes smoothly, the next chapter will be posted at least before the end of the year! inches along


End file.
